Cost Estimation Services

Cost estimation for a New York production starts with the recognition that NYC carries one of the highest production cost bases in the world and one of the most generous tax credit programs in North America — and that the gap between the two is where global producers either find their budget or lose it.

Our estimators model line-by-line against current IATSE Local 52, Local 600, Local 798, Local 829, and Teamsters Local 817 rate cards, the SAG-AFTRA New York scales, and the day-rate structures used at Steiner Studios, Silvercup, Kaufman Astoria, York Studios, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard support facilities.

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

Our process applies the New York State Film Tax Credit 30% qualified spend rebate, the additional 10% upstate uplift where applicable, the post-prod credit for finishing at facilities like Technicolor PostWorks, Harbor, and Light Iron, and the Made in NY incentive structure into a unified model that shows gross cost, net cost after credits, and cashflow timing once Empire State Development certification clears.

We deliver guesses inside twenty-four to forty-eight hours for standard projects, with detailed scenario modelling for stage-versus-location splits, weather-day risk on summer Manhattan shoots, and the working impact of congestion pricing on truck movements south of 60th Street. Producers receive a budget document that holds up against actuals — variance tracked through production, with our team open to rerun scenarios when locations shift, weather forces schedule changes, or financiers ask for fresh comparisons against Atlanta, Vancouver, London, or Budapest alternatives.