Film and Television Production in Massachusetts: Industry Overview and Analysis

This report describes the structure and recent growth of the film and television industry in Massachusetts. We begin with a discussion of national trends in this industry and find that Massachusetts is one of the fastest growing locations for film and television production in the United States. We then discuss recent employment trends in this sector and find that there has been significant recent growth in the total number of local film and television production jobs, particularly among the unionized crew and actors that staff local productions. Examination of federal data reveals that between 2005 and 2008 there has been a 117% and a 126% growth in employment in the motion picture and video production and postproduction industries respectively. Using network and geographic modeling tools, we also identify novel patterns in the non-wage spending of local film and television productions. We continue with a discussion of growth trends across several sub-sectors of the local film and television sector and find that several are growing rapidly