Lights, camera, record!
The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment announced Thursday that 12 drama pilots by the big three networks were filmed locally this season — a record number of network drama pilots for the city. New York beat Los Angeles’ eight, and saw a jump from the seven pilots filmed last year.
MOME Commissioner Julie Menin touted the growing population of city film talent, as well as the variety of locations and soundstages in the five boroughs, as reasons for the boom.
“Today’s announcement bodes well for our city’s continued dominance as the episodic TV capital of the world, providing long-lasting, good jobs to New York-based crew members and actors alike,” she said.
This is the highest number of city-produced network pilots since 2010, when there were 10 shows filmed.
CBS led the pack with five shows, including “F.B.I.” which is produced by “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf. NBC has four pilots filming in New York while ABC has three, according to the city.
Cable networks FX, Comedy Central and Pop TV each have a New York pilot in production, MOME said. The TV networks typically announce which pilots make their schedules in May.
The city said the data doesn’t include pilots filmed by streaming networks like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, since they are filmed throughout the year. The number of city-filmed shows that aired on those three streaming networks rose by 11 percent between the 2015-2016 season and the 2016-2017 season, according to MOME.
