The Phoenix Film Office says production across the Valley last year generated nearly $30 million in direct economic impact, about $10 million more than the previous year.
Phoenix Film Commissioner Phil Bradstock said the increase is likely due to the end of writers’ and actors’ strikes, along with new state tax credits for production companies. And he says commercial shoots are bringing in more bucks.
“They're almost like many movies in a way that come out. And although the total run time is about 30 seconds, they shoot a lot of footage when they're out here, so they can have multiple clips across multiple platforms, whether it's network TV or it's going to be social media,” he said.
Bradstock said the Valley welcomed 777 projects last year that generated work for more than 3,000 local crew members and 1,800 people who appeared on camera.
“When you get these large corporations, maybe it's a pharmaceutical corporation, when they make an advertisement, they're usually very well funded and all that money gets spent out here locally," he said. "And in a way, it's like foreign direct investment. The money is coming from the outside and being left here in Phoenix.”
The greater Phoenix area is attractive for several reasons, according to Bradstock:
- Close to Los Angeles
- Lower permit fees
- Comparable crew rates
- Urban and suburban shooting locations
Bradstock said the economic impact is probably higher than $29.1 million because he relies on reports from production companies and doesn’t attach multipliers to the numbers.
“So every time a project reaches out to my office, it is tracked,” he said. “And when they wrap, I send them a survey and ask them, how much money did they spend? How many hotel room nights? How many local crew and talent? And how much money did they spend here locally? And from that, we collect a lot of the data.”
In addition, every six months Bradstock surveys all the local production companies because they are shooting in other locations outside the city limits.
“And so they self-report a lot of those numbers,” he said. “There's a lot of other activity that goes on, but not everybody volunteers the information.”
