Silvercup Studios

I thoroughly enjoyed your article about the women of "Mad Men." [" 'Mad Men', Strong Women" by Lynn Smith, July 20]. In 1953 I worked at one of the major agencies in New York before I went into the Navy. I appreciate the show and the accuracy portrayed of the relationships between the men and "the girls." One little word you may want to pass on: Langendorf bread was not available in the New York City area. If you wanted a soft white bread, the most popular one was Silvercup. The building is now a major film studio, the Silvercup Studios in Long Island City.

It's a snowy day in New York City, but Alec Baldwin, like his fellow "30 Rock" cast members, has reported for work at the Queens-based Silvercup Studios. It's the day before his daughter will call 911, having found him "unresponsive" at home, leading Baldwin to spend an hour in the hospital, but on this day he's in fine form. After all, Alec Baldwin knows how to adapt, having gone from playing action heroes and hard-charging real estate agents to embracing his comedic chops in films like "It's Complicated."

New York's City Council approved a film studio company's plan to build a $1.2-billion complex of sound stages, office towers, apartments, shops and parkland on the Queens waterfront. The project, by Silvercup Studios, where the HBO series "The Sopranos" is filmed, was approved on a 49-0 council vote. The complex calls for 18 movie studios as well as 1,150 apartments, including 150 units of low-income housing.

I thoroughly enjoyed your article about the women of "Mad Men." [" 'Mad Men', Strong Women" by Lynn Smith, July 20]. In 1953 I worked at one of the major agencies in New York before I went into the Navy. I appreciate the show and the accuracy portrayed of the relationships between the men and "the girls." One little word you may want to pass on: Langendorf bread was not available in the New York City area. If you wanted a soft white bread, the most popular one was Silvercup. The building is now a major film studio, the Silvercup Studios in Long Island City.

It's a snowy day in New York City, but Alec Baldwin, like his fellow "30 Rock" cast members, has reported for work at the Queens-based Silvercup Studios. It's the day before his daughter will call 911, having found him "unresponsive" at home, leading Baldwin to spend an hour in the hospital, but on this day he's in fine form. After all, Alec Baldwin knows how to adapt, having gone from playing action heroes and hard-charging real estate agents to embracing his comedic chops in films like "It's Complicated."

In recent months, this city's soundstages have been teeming with film and television productions, the result of a generous tax credit aimed at luring more shoots to New York. But it remains to be seen how long those stages will be full. On Thursday, the state confirmed that it had run through the $515 million set aside for the tax credit program through 2013.

What's happened to the movie business in New York? General Camera, suppliers of filmmaking hardware from cranes to klieg lights, has laid off half its 52 employees in the last two years. The city boasted four major film processing labs as recently as five years ago. Only two remain. And then there are ancillary businesses such as E & R Production Coordinators.

IS THIS city poised to take a bite out of Hollywood's bread and butter? A dramatically expanded state tax credit for film and television productions has made New York a more appealing shooting locale than ever, bringing a wave of projects into the city this summer. Barring an actors strike, local soundstages expect to have more demand than they can fill in the coming months. "We've had an onslaught of calls," said Douglas C.

As the Writers Guild of America strike entered its second week, attendance appeared to be down at several locations that were particularly overflowing with pickets last week. On Monday afternoon, there were no protesters in front of the Walt Disney Studios and only a few dozen down the street at NBC. But the striking writers said their spirits were not flagging. Jessica O'Toole, a writer on the ABC Family series "Greek," was pushing a stroller carrying her 9-month-old son, Carter.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard has seen its share of big productions in the last two centuries. In 1862, the armored gunboat Monitor was fitted with state-of-the-art iron cladding here that helped it fend off a Confederate war vessel during a pivotal Civil War battle. The battleship Maine was built in the yard, a few years before the Spanish sunk it in Havana Harbor in 1898.

New York's City Council approved a film studio company's plan to build a $1.2-billion complex of sound stages, office towers, apartments, shops and parkland on the Queens waterfront. The project, by Silvercup Studios, where the HBO series "The Sopranos" is filmed, was approved on a 49-0 council vote. The complex calls for 18 movie studios as well as 1,150 apartments, including 150 units of low-income housing.

Last July, the television series “Ugly Betty” moved from Los Angeles, where it has been filmed for two years, to New York, on account of a recently tripled tax incentive. Given that the series, whose third season premieres tonight, is now being shot in the city where it is supposed to take place, you can't exactly call it a runaway production -- more like a "run-to production," perhaps. Still, it feels like a loss for the home team and an injury to local pride, not to say local pocketbooks.

Start spreading the news: After years of watching cheaper locales stand in for New York, the city that never sleeps has become a fierce competitor in the race to lure film and TV productions. Last year was New York City's busiest production year in more than a decade -- a remarkable comeback after a steep slump deepened by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.