Mayor Bloomberg Helps Open Five Soundstages in New York City

New York City's Steiner Studios has five new soundstages -- now open for business.

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped celebrate the opening on Monday in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where he also announced new initiatives to add more jobs in the entertainment industry.

Among the city's efforts in that arena: a new $500,000 training grant program in digital media; the addition of an entertainment-based field of study as part of an MBA partnership between the city and New York University's Stern School of Business; a request for proposals for a "Made in NY" Media Center, which would provide affordable work space and other resources to media companies.

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"A little over a decade ago, New York City struggled to attract the lucrative production industry to film here," Bloomberg said. "Now the City is such a popular and prosperous home to hundreds of films and television shows, (and) we have to work hard to keep up with the demand for stages and production facilities. These new soundstages at Steiner Studios will create jobs, and expanding our workforce development programs with new grants will help the next generation of production professionals start their careers on the right track."

The soundproof stages encompass 45,000 square feet at Steiner Studios, which opened in 2004 and has housed production for such films as Inside Man and Sex and the City to the TV series Damages, Bored To Death and Boardwalk Empire.

Last year, 188 films shot on location in New York, in addition to 140 television series. This spring, the city expects at least 13 television pilots to be shot in the Big Apple.