Cost Estimation Services

Cost estimation for a New York production starts with one fact. NYC has one of the highest cost bases in the world, yet one of the richest tax credit programs in North America. The gap between the two is where global producers either find their budget or lose it.

Our estimators model line by line against today's rate cards. Those cover IATSE Local 52, Local 600, Local 798, Local 829, and Teamsters Local 817, plus the SAG-AFTRA New York scales. We also build in the day rates used at Steiner Studios, Silvercup, Kaufman Astoria, York Studios, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard support facilities.

Gear line items pull from live quotes at TCS, AbelCine, Eastern Effects, and the camera and lighting houses based in Long Island City and Bushwick. We check location costs against MOME permit fees, NYPD movie set detail rates, and the per-location averages we see across Brooklyn brownstone blocks, Manhattan loft buildings, and Queens commercial strips.

Our process pulls every incentive into one model. That model applies the New York State Film Tax Credit 30% qualified spend rebate, the extra 10% upstate uplift where it fits, the post-prod credit for finishing at facilities like Technicolor PostWorks, Harbor, and Light Iron, and the Made in NY incentive. It then shows gross cost, net cost after credits, and cashflow timing once Empire State Development sign-off clears.

For standard projects, we deliver estimates within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Each one carries detailed scenario models for stage-versus-location splits, weather-day risk on summer Manhattan shoots, and the toll that congestion pricing takes on truck moves south of 60th Street. Producers get a budget that holds up against actuals, with variance tracked through the shoot. Our team also reruns scenarios when locations shift, weather forces schedule changes, or backers want fresh comparisons against Atlanta, Vancouver, London, or Budapest.