New York Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke at the Paley Center for Media in Manhattan September 12 and shared plans to increase the state’s role in TV and film production, and artificial intelligence. She touched on expanding the state’s “very generous” production tax credits “so we don’t lose business to New Jersey, to Georgia, to Toronto, to London.”
Hochul stressed how New York has a share of creative talent that the other locales may envy. “All the talent wants to be here … but they will go where the show goes,” she said.
She spoke of increasing tax credits in 2023 from $420 million to $750 million, and noted how “we’re gonna make that even better.”
Hochul added, “We have the talent, and we have the diversity of talent, which is so important.”
The governor was interviewed by Sade Baderinwa, WABC New York anchor. It was a Paley Media Council address. Baderinwa asked what a half dozen new studio projects in the works means for TV and film production in the New York area.
“Success breeds success,” Hochul responded . “We have more productions here. [Producers] see it and they want to be where the action is.”
Hochul, a Democrat, said the New York metro represents the best of the best in a range of departments, such as finance. But “what sets us apart is really our creative talent,” she said.
She added, “It’s a cool place to live, and I’m always trying to up the cool factor.”
Baderinwa also asked about Hochul’s plans to promote artificial intelligence in New York. “It’s real simple. New York must be the best at everything. We must be the best, we must be the greatest, we must be the envy of the world,” Hochul said. “When it comes to a new technology, who owns the future? Whoever owns AI owns the future.”
The governor spoke of a “big ask” of the state legislature, to the tune of $275 million, to build a massive supercomputer dedicated to artificial intelligence that she stressed would not be owned by private companies.
“How do I democratize AI for good?” she asked.
Hochul touched on her career in public service in the interview, and her rise to governor, and learning about government as a high school student, which saw her take the bus into Buffalo to volunteer at Democratic headquarters. She was the youngest student to take part, she said, and the only girl — the latter a common theme in her career, she added.
“I got out of gym class, I got out of lunch, I got out of study hall,” she said, thanks to the volunteer missions.
On one excursion, she met Tim Russert, the former NBC News Washington bureau chief, and Meet the Press moderator, who died in 2008. “He helped me write my first press release,” Hochul said. “He took a red pen and killed it. I thought, why are you so rough on me? But he made me better.”
But it was while discussing the state’s AI plans that Hochul summed up her mindset. “It is N.Y. State,” she said. “Get out of our way.”
