Which American cities have an active entertainment industry?
December 3, 2007 12:52 PM Subscribe
Where should we move- which American cities have active entertainment industries?
My boyfriend and I attended NYU and have remained in the city since graduating in 2004. He went to film school and I studied film/tv writing. We've been struggling to make our careers happen here, but it is becoming clear that the financial pressures of the city and competition in our field is too much to take on at the moment. We are thinking about a move, but not the typical move to LA.
We are looking to find places that still have some sort of active entertainment industry. We are also interested in pursuing journalism. The most important thing is that there should be a decent cost of living, but still very safe. We prefer a mild climate, being near a coast, liberal area, staying near a major city-but we do not need a megalopolis.
My boyfriend and I attended NYU and have remained in the city since graduating in 2004. He went to film school and I studied film/tv writing. We've been struggling to make our careers happen here, but it is becoming clear that the financial pressures of the city and competition in our field is too much to take on at the moment. We are thinking about a move, but not the typical move to LA.
We are looking to find places that still have some sort of active entertainment industry. We are also interested in pursuing journalism. The most important thing is that there should be a decent cost of living, but still very safe. We prefer a mild climate, being near a coast, liberal area, staying near a major city-but we do not need a megalopolis.
DC:
- Large built-in journalism industry
- Cost of living at least lower than New York (although still pretty high)
- A lot safer than 10 years ago, even safer in the 'burbs
- Mild climate
- Near a coast
- Overwhelmingly liberal (at least as far as native DC-ers)
- Definitely a major city, but not a megalopolis.
posted by General Malaise at 1:05 PM on December 3, 2007
- Large built-in journalism industry
- Cost of living at least lower than New York (although still pretty high)
- A lot safer than 10 years ago, even safer in the 'burbs
- Mild climate
- Near a coast
- Overwhelmingly liberal (at least as far as native DC-ers)
- Definitely a major city, but not a megalopolis.
posted by General Malaise at 1:05 PM on December 3, 2007
Atlanta. There are lots of news organizations based out of there, including CNN.
posted by thebrokenmuse at 1:08 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by thebrokenmuse at 1:08 PM on December 3, 2007
If you're willing to jump the border, Vancouver's entertainment industry is probably the largest in all of Canada. If you can handle rain, all of your other requirements are met.
posted by Nelsormensch at 1:10 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by Nelsormensch at 1:10 PM on December 3, 2007
Wilmington, NC, is nice.
Wilmington Regional Film Commission
posted by BeerFilter at 1:19 PM on December 3, 2007
Wilmington Regional Film Commission
posted by BeerFilter at 1:19 PM on December 3, 2007
Maybe Floriday? I'm not sure if it was Orlando or Miami that had the bigger film industry.
posted by cazoo at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by cazoo at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2007
I disagree with General Malaise.
DC is a tough place to break into mainstream journalism without connections or a LOT of experience. There are lots of journalistic jobs for people willing to work for trade publications or in PR, or for smaller neighborhood-oriented newspapers. The cost of living is high, except in areas that are less safe. I had to leave DC to kick-start my fledgling journalism career.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2007
DC is a tough place to break into mainstream journalism without connections or a LOT of experience. There are lots of journalistic jobs for people willing to work for trade publications or in PR, or for smaller neighborhood-oriented newspapers. The cost of living is high, except in areas that are less safe. I had to leave DC to kick-start my fledgling journalism career.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2007
Austin.
Austin Film Society
Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Commission
UT Film Institute
SXSW
posted by mattbucher at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2007
Austin Film Society
Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Commission
UT Film Institute
SXSW
posted by mattbucher at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2007
Nashville apparently has a growing, but low-profile, entertainment industry that's been accreting around the music gravity-well. We're not near the coast, but we have some nice rivers in the area. And you're only a hop/skip/jump away from Atlanta and all of the traffic.
posted by jquinby at 1:36 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by jquinby at 1:36 PM on December 3, 2007
Yea, seconding Austin. I was only there a week, but I wanted to move.
posted by TomMelee at 1:38 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by TomMelee at 1:38 PM on December 3, 2007
Not sure what exactly you are looking for. "Entertainment industry" can refer to a lot of things. If you mean film, NYC and LA are pretty much the places to be.
95% of my film school class went to LA, and most seem to be doing OK 8 years later. I came to NYC instead, and love it here, but I only worked in film for about a year. Now I am a musician, with a day job in publishing.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:47 PM on December 3, 2007
95% of my film school class went to LA, and most seem to be doing OK 8 years later. I came to NYC instead, and love it here, but I only worked in film for about a year. Now I am a musician, with a day job in publishing.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:47 PM on December 3, 2007
2nding Atlanta. Cnn, Cartoon Network, TNT and all of its subs, Tyler Perry's company, lots of films shot here and it meets all of your other criteria. Good Luck!
posted by pearlybob at 1:58 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by pearlybob at 1:58 PM on December 3, 2007
Boston is very up and coming lately.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/hollywood_invasion/
interesting article on Boston film.
In addition to the Hollywood stuff lately there is a thriving indie community.
If you are looking at Florida I would probably recommend Miami over Orlando for work reasons. I worked in both places, was busy in Miami, in Orlando it just died and I ended up working on live events for a theme park.
posted by UMDirector at 2:13 PM on December 3, 2007
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/hollywood_invasion/
interesting article on Boston film.
In addition to the Hollywood stuff lately there is a thriving indie community.
If you are looking at Florida I would probably recommend Miami over Orlando for work reasons. I worked in both places, was busy in Miami, in Orlando it just died and I ended up working on live events for a theme park.
posted by UMDirector at 2:13 PM on December 3, 2007
Oh I should add Boston gives you fairly easy access to NYC too if job opportunities came up there.
CT also a very close drive and has been hosting a ton of film shoots lately.
posted by UMDirector at 2:14 PM on December 3, 2007
CT also a very close drive and has been hosting a ton of film shoots lately.
posted by UMDirector at 2:14 PM on December 3, 2007
Sorry just looked at your question regarding your wants...Boston hits them all except the decent cost of living, but if you go south towards Weymouth, Plymouth area its a bit better.
Nice 3 bedroom apt is about $1900.
Apparently they are also going to be building a studio in Plymouth...
Here is another fun non-html link about the studio:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/23/movie_studio_screens_plan_to_set_up_shop/
posted by UMDirector at 2:16 PM on December 3, 2007
Nice 3 bedroom apt is about $1900.
Apparently they are also going to be building a studio in Plymouth...
Here is another fun non-html link about the studio:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/23/movie_studio_screens_plan_to_set_up_shop/
posted by UMDirector at 2:16 PM on December 3, 2007
If you're going to do the Boston route, consider living in Rhode Island. Easy commute, cheaper rents, and we've got a growing film industry of our own.
posted by Ruki at 2:20 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by Ruki at 2:20 PM on December 3, 2007
mild climate, being near a coast, liberal area
Since others have recommended Atlanta, I'll just jump in here and say ANYWHERE BUT ATLANTA. The winters are mild, but the summers are awful, and they last from about the middle of April until the middle of October. We're a 4.5 hour drive from the nearest coast, and aside from a relatively small bastion of reliably liberal voters within the I285 perimeter, it's a solid conservative bloc.
If the items I quoted above are really important to you, you don't want to live here.
posted by deadmessenger at 2:23 PM on December 3, 2007
Since others have recommended Atlanta, I'll just jump in here and say ANYWHERE BUT ATLANTA. The winters are mild, but the summers are awful, and they last from about the middle of April until the middle of October. We're a 4.5 hour drive from the nearest coast, and aside from a relatively small bastion of reliably liberal voters within the I285 perimeter, it's a solid conservative bloc.
If the items I quoted above are really important to you, you don't want to live here.
posted by deadmessenger at 2:23 PM on December 3, 2007
You may also have people recommend Philadelphia...ignore them...for your own sake!
posted by UMDirector at 2:28 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by UMDirector at 2:28 PM on December 3, 2007
How about London? Mild climate, near the coast, plenty of journos....
posted by jenkinsEar at 2:30 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by jenkinsEar at 2:30 PM on December 3, 2007
Regarding Atlanta: Yes, traffic sucks and summers suck. Recent summers have seen many days with extremely bad air-quality days -- that is, days where even the healthy should avoid outside activity. And on those occasions, they're not kidding -- I've felt my lungs burning after 5 minutes of running (and I regularly run 30+ minutes). It does, however, have a lot of entertainment industry going on, as aforementioned.
posted by dondiego87 at 3:28 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by dondiego87 at 3:28 PM on December 3, 2007
New game -- who can say the word "days" the most in one sentence?
posted by dondiego87 at 3:28 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by dondiego87 at 3:28 PM on December 3, 2007
DC has a lot of reality TV (HGTV, History Channel, PBS, Nat Geo, Court TV...) being produced here through small production companies. There is also much work for a producer looking to do government or nonprofit video work. For the freelancer willing to make the contacts and work on a variety of TV Women in Film is a great organization to look into. It's hard to break into the bureaucracy of National Geographic and Discovery and many people I have know who have worked there hated it. Overall I would say that DC is good for work but my main complaints are that the housing market is seemingly unstoppable inside the beltway, traffic is horrendous and many people do not stay and put roots down here so friendships come and go. Let me know if you would like any more info.
posted by mcbietila at 6:27 PM on December 3, 2007
posted by mcbietila at 6:27 PM on December 3, 2007
Re Atlanta: traffic sucks only if you choose to live in the far-flung suburbs (far flung by any other cities standards). Get a modest intown bungalow and you're within biking/transit distance of the media/entertainment operations. I'm speaking from experience ...
CNN is not expanding much, as they have for years been losing the race to the bottom started by Fox News. Getting a job at Turner Entertainment (Cartoon Network et cetera) is very difficult, as they are indundated with applicants for everything. Media / entertainment businesses really do get to abuse their workers (especially in a non-union state like Georgia) because there's a line out the door of people willing to work for beans. Oh boy, teevee!
Atlanta's a weak journalism town, IMO. There's no competition for the daily paper, although the local alternative weekly tries. There's not much of a journalism tradition among the local universities.
Personally I don't think the summers are so bad. 2007 was exceptionally hot. Usually you just have to live with 95 degreee days from June through August, and then the rest of the year it's pretty great. April in Atlanta is f*cking paradise. A few nasty cold snaps in the winter. I mean, sersly, if you hate cold weather more than hot weather, it's fine.
The drought has suuucked, but the flipside has been lots of sunshine ...
posted by intermod at 9:06 PM on December 3, 2007
CNN is not expanding much, as they have for years been losing the race to the bottom started by Fox News. Getting a job at Turner Entertainment (Cartoon Network et cetera) is very difficult, as they are indundated with applicants for everything. Media / entertainment businesses really do get to abuse their workers (especially in a non-union state like Georgia) because there's a line out the door of people willing to work for beans. Oh boy, teevee!
Atlanta's a weak journalism town, IMO. There's no competition for the daily paper, although the local alternative weekly tries. There's not much of a journalism tradition among the local universities.
Personally I don't think the summers are so bad. 2007 was exceptionally hot. Usually you just have to live with 95 degreee days from June through August, and then the rest of the year it's pretty great. April in Atlanta is f*cking paradise. A few nasty cold snaps in the winter. I mean, sersly, if you hate cold weather more than hot weather, it's fine.
The drought has suuucked, but the flipside has been lots of sunshine ...
posted by intermod at 9:06 PM on December 3, 2007
Shout out to a fellow DDW'er (what up class of '03) but I just wanted to say-- give LA a chance. I hated the thought of it til I made the move after 8 years in NYC, and if you live in a good, semi-urban neighborhood (Silver Lake, Venice Beach, Echo Park) it's not bad at all. I love it here, against all expectations.
To answer your question though, someone once told me Tampa FL had a burgeoning film industry... But Florida and Tisch grads rarely get along well, in my experience.
posted by np312 at 11:04 PM on December 3, 2007
To answer your question though, someone once told me Tampa FL had a burgeoning film industry... But Florida and Tisch grads rarely get along well, in my experience.
posted by np312 at 11:04 PM on December 3, 2007
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by hortense at 1:00 PM on December 3, 2007