Report: New York on Pace to Spend Nearly $1 Billion in Film and TV Tax Credits This Year

New York taxpayers are on track to spend nearly $1 billion this year subsidizing television and film productions, according to a report from the good-government group Reinvent Albany that analyzes the state’s first-quarter 2025 tax-credit awards.

Reinvent Albany said the state paid out roughly $230 million in production tax credits in the first three months of 2025. Among the largest single recipients were Saturday Night Live and FBI: Most Wanted, which each received about $21 million in credits during that period. Reinvent calculated the credits amounted to roughly $65,000 for each full-time equivalent position created during the quarter.

The report and accompanying coverage in the New York Post list the top 10 recipients of film tax credits in the state’s first quarter of 2025 and the number of full-time equivalent jobs each production claimed to have created. Saturday Night Live received $21.2 million and reported 254 jobs; FBI: Most Wanted (season 2) received $21 million and reported 290 jobs; Dead Ringers received $20.8 million and reported 315 jobs; Power Book II: Ghost received $20 million and reported 275 jobs; The Watcher received $16.2 million and reported 254 jobs; Dr. Death received $15.7 million and reported 207 jobs; Let the Right One In received $15.5 million and reported 202 jobs; FBI: Most Wanted (season 1) received $15.2 million and reported 249 jobs; Katy Keene received $12.6 million and reported 199 jobs; and Only Murders in the Building received $12.3 million and reported 192 jobs.

Reinvent Albany criticized the state’s film tax credit program as an expensive, disproven form of trickle-down economics that yields limited benefits for taxpayers. "The Governor and Legislature are happy to waste enormous amounts of our tax dollars on an utterly debunked, trickle-down economics scheme because of the substantial political reward they get from the Motion Picture Association, its corporate members, its unions and tens of millions of dollars of top gun Albany lobbyists," the group said in a statement accompanying its report.

A study the state commissioned and released last year found New York recoups about 30 cents for every dollar it spends on the film tax credit. Reinvent Albany used that and other state data to underscore its contention that the program provides weak fiscal returns. The Motion Picture Association, a principal lobbying force behind the program, declined to comment to the New York Post on the group’s report. Industry representatives have previously defended credits as vital to creating and retaining union jobs and to keeping productions from moving to other states or countries.

State elected officials offered competing assessments. Republican Assemblyman Ed Ra questioned the rationale for giving large credits to shows long identified with New York, posting on X, "What interest of the New York taxpayer is being advanced by giving $21M dollars in breaks to Saturday Night Live which is so synonymous with New York State that they start each show by announcing 'Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!' Are they going somewhere else?" Democratic state Sen. James Skoufis said the state should base economic development investments on evidence rather than "feel-good anecdotes or flashy headlines," and called for reconsideration of the program given recent federal budget developments that affected state finances.

Despite those criticisms, the Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul approved a two-year, $1.4 billion extension of the existing film tax credit earlier this year and added a new 12-year, $1.2 billion credit targeted at so-called independent films and shows as part of the state budget deal.

Empire State Development, the state agency that administers the program, sharply disputed Reinvent Albany’s conclusions and the arithmetic in the report. In a statement, ESD said, "Reinvent Albany’s math is worse than pineapple on pizza," and asserted the state receives a 700% return on its investment, claiming more than $1.1 billion in benefits in the last quarter alone. The agency said the program is "reasonable, responsible, and helps keep the Empire State competitive against other states desperately trying to copy our success at attracting and accelerating local film production."

Proponents of the tax credits point to competition among states and countries to host film and television production. Lawmakers and state economic-development officials have argued that generous credits are necessary to preserve union jobs and maintain the industry’s infrastructure in New York, where studios, crews and related services have long been concentrated. Critics say those claims do not justify the scale of public subsidies or the program’s cost per job.

The first-quarter figures draw attention to broader questions about how states measure the economic return from subsidies and how policymakers weigh immediate job creation and industry retention against long-term fiscal impacts. The dispute also highlights the political weight of the film and television industry and its allies, including unions and the Motion Picture Association, in Albany and at the national level.

The debate is likely to continue as the state implements the newly extended credits and as watchdog groups and lawmakers press for more transparent and independent assessments of the program’s costs and benefits. Reinvent Albany said it will monitor future disbursements and urged lawmakers to reconsider the scale and design of the subsidy regime, while ESD and industry supporters maintain that credits are an essential tool for sustaining New York’s film and television economy.