It’s hardly turning into Hollywood East, but Connecticut is trying to increase its potential as a hub for film and television production.
“Overall we’re enjoying an uptick,” George Norfleet, executive director of the state’s Office of Film, TV & Digital Media — part of the Department of Economic and Community Development — told the Business Journal. “And we’re very happy about it.”
Colin Ferguson and Alicia Witt in “Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane.”
Some of the most recent activity has been taking place in Stamford, where “The Good Nurse” — the retelling of the story of Charles Cullen, who murdered as many as 300 patients during a 16-career in health care — recently wrapped production. Stamford Director of Economic Development Thomas Madden said the film’s cast and crew probably spent around $2 million in the city.
Disney live-action feature “Chang Can Dunk” and another Netflix movie, “The Noel Diary,” will also be filming in Stamford — the latter spent a few days in New Canaan as well — while longtime syndicated TV favorite “The People’s Court” has been filmed there since 2012, as have talk shows “Maury” and “The Steve Wilkos Show,” both since 2009. The latter two are produced at NBCUniversal’s Stamford Media Center.
“Production is definitely growing in Stamford,” Norfleet said. “They’re reaching a critical mass of supporting the industry there.” The city’s proximity to New York City, combined with what he called “the luck of the draw,” are helping it build-out.
Also playing a part is The Village, home to Wheelhouse Entertainment and ITV America. In addition, actor Michael Jai White (“Spawn,” “The Dark Knight”) recently announced plans to open a “mini-major” facility, Jaigantic Studios, in New Haven this year; as construction on that continues, Jaigantic will operate at Fairfield’s Studio One.
“Our office always expends considerable effort with the film industry,” said Norfleet, who said productions are coming all around Connecticut. While competition among states is fierce, he noted that “Just as important is consumption. During the pandemic and the health environment we all find ourselves in, there’s even more of a call for content on the new streaming platforms.”
While offering picturesque views of the New England stereotype — rolling hillsides and quaint downtowns, perhaps best evidenced by made-for-TV movies with such try-and-tell-them-apart titles as “Soul Santa,” “My Adventures With Santa,” “Rediscovering Christmas,” “Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane,” “Christmas at Pemberley Manor” and “A Very Nutty Christmas” — Norfleet said that the state’s topography also plays an important role.
“We’ve got urban streetscapes, rolling countrysides, the shoreline, beaches, forests — really everything except deserts.”
Connecticut also has deals in place with New York and New Jersey to pool resources when it comes to hiring crews. “We really do have a highly skilled labor force here,” he said, with the agreements representing “a win-win for everyone.”
Also playing a part, of course, is money. Norfleet’s office offers a range of tax incentives to productions — including up to 30% tax credits for production and post-production expenses, 10% to 30% tax credits for digital animation production and exemptions on hotel and sales tax, among others.
Norfleet said such arrangements are not simply to studios to the state, but also to employ local craftspeople as well as benefiting area businesses.
And, he said, Connecticut is not only in competition with surrounding states but is essentially fighting it out with all 50, plus Washington, D.C. (although replicating the Capitol or the Lincoln Memorial remains a challenge). Again, incentives play a part: To qualify for most incentives in Connecticut, a production must prove a minimum local spend of $100,000, as compared with $250,000 to $1 million in New York; 60% of total film production expenses or more than $1 million in qualified production expenses in New Jersey.
While Massachusetts arguably betters the Nutmeg State via a minimum local spend requirement of just $50,000, such putative competitors as Vermont and New Hampshire offer no tax incentives at all.
Norfleet said the state’s offerings tend to keep producers and studios coming back. “We’re a place that offers a good bang for the buck,” he said. “We have one studio that’s planning on for different productions here, back to back.”
He said he anticipates the level of production in the state to continue on the upswing.
“A rising tide lifts all boats,” he said.
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