Send us Fan Mail Westchester County just put a number on its film and television boom: $1.85 billion in economic impact in 2025, the biggest figure the county has ever published and double 2024. This episode goes inside five years of the county's own data — the 86% one-year jump in jobs, the 2022 peak and strike-year collapse the headlines skip, and why the county's own tax-and-fee tally ($12.3 million) tells a quieter story than the modeled headline. Plus the $800 million state tax credit behind the boom, and the two competing studies on whether it pays for itself. In This Episode: 0:00 Cold Open 0:26 Intro and Context 0:54 The Data: the 2025 report 2:44 The Surprise: the forgotten 2022 peak, and the cash vs. the model 4:13 What This Means for You 4:56 Close Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins released the county's annual film and television economic impact report in September: $1.85 billion in economic activity in 2025, double the $924.2 million reported for 2024, with 5,757 jobs supported (2,434 directly on productions), $535.6 million in employee earnings, and 1,636 production days, up from 1,372. The infrastructure behind it: eight New York State Qualified Production Facilities, anchored by the Lionsgate studio complex in Yonkers operated by Great Point Studios. Apple TV+'s Your Friends & Neighbors bases production there and has been shooting its third season in the county this year, filming across Briarcliff Manor, Harrison, Tarrytown, Rye, White Plains, and Yonkers, alongside Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day, Elsbeth, The Gilded Age, Severance, Poker Face, The Fall & Rise of Reggie Dinkins, Focker-in-Law, and Marty Supreme. But the county's own published data adds context the press release leaves out. Westchester's film economy already reached $1.44 billion in 2022, before the 2023 writers' and actors' strikes cut activity to $622.4 million — less than half the peak in one year. Measured against that real prior peak, 2025's record is a 28% gain, by our math. A record, but partly a rebound. And there is a gap between the modeled headline and the county's own tax-and-fee count: $4.3 million in sales tax (below 2022's $4.59 million), roughly $1.7 million in permit, location, and rental fees (real municipal receipts, down 39% from 2022's $2.77 million), and a published high of $4.4 million in lodging-related taxes. Total fiscal benefit: $12.3 million, up 62% over 2024 and itself a record — about $1 collected for every $150 of claimed economic impact, by our math, most of which is wages and vendor spending that would never appear as local taxes. Behind the boom sits New York State's film production tax credit, now $800 million per year through 2036. A state-commissioned study by PFM Group estimated the credit returns 15 cents in direct tax revenue per dollar, about 31 cents including indirect effects; an earlier state-funded analysis estimated $1.70. This episode presents both. Sources: Westchester County press releases and Tourism & Film data sheets; Business Council of Westchester; coverage of the state-commissioned PFM Group study of New York's film tax credit; Entertainment Partners on the 2025 credit expansion. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or share with a neighbor. Support the show I Live Here Westchester is a production of I Live Here Media. We spotlight the voices, visionaries, and stories that make Westchester County more than just a place to live—it’s a place to belong. Have a guest suggestion or want to partner with us? Email: jimjockle@iliveheremedia.com Website: www.iliveheremedia.com Follow us on Instagram: @iliveheremedia Subscribe, rate, and share to support local storytelling.
