Following Amazon's dramatic reneging on a deal to open a new corporate campus in Queens, another Content Giant is rolling into town, with its eye on those sweet tax credits: Netflix.
Governor Andrew Cuomo's Office announced on Thursday that the streaming platform would become a bigger part of New York City, adding 127 content, marketing, legal, publicity, and production development jobs at 888 Broadway in the Flatiron District. Netflix also promises to bring production jobs to the city with the opening of new sound stages in Bushwick.
New York City already has a significant presence within Netflix's on-screen roster, physically and psychically. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is inextricable from Greenpoint, where the show often filmed. Lest we forget that the East Village is as much of a character in Russian Doll as the cast itself. Other Netflix shows, including Orange Is the New Black, already film many of their scenes at Kaufman Astoria Studios, in Queens. This latest move could expand Netflix's repertoire of shows filmed, and set, in New York City.
But in order to reap those $4 million in tax credits, Netflix has to make good on creating and retaining 127 jobs within the next five years, along with the 32 office jobs they already have, according to the announcement. New York's contentious film tax credit program has been extended through 2024, despite ongoing questions about New York's hefty motion picture production subsidy program.
Netflix's new sound stages will take up 161,000 square feet at 333 Johnson Avenue, just a few blocks from the beloved vegan diner Champs, watering holes including The Well and Tradesman, and the infamous party squat/artist cohort the McKibbin Lofts.
