Philadelphia is so much more than a setting, its a character. Audiences caught a glimpse of the diversity and charm of our city’s streets in the early days of Philly’s onscreen appearances during Rocky, with Rocky Balboa’s training route, ending in the iconic scene at the top of the Art Museum steps. Since then,
the City of Brotherly Love has provided the setting to hundreds of films
like Trading Places, Philadelphia, The Sixth Sense, In Her Shoes, Paranoia, Silver Linings Playbook, and Creed. If you’re
looking for your next film location, we can proudly say there are many reasons why you
should make Philly the star of your next film. Here are a few.
Savings
The Pennsylvania Tax Credit is a great incentive to film in the Greater
Philadelphia Area. Pennsylvania offers a 25-30% Tax Credit to film productions
that spend at least 60% of their total production cost within the state. Productions may also qualify for other incentives such as fee-free locations, hotel tax
exemption, police assistance, and free security at their production site when
they film in Philadelphia. The Tax Credit is a great way to save money for your
budget and you can save even more with the resources we offer at the Greater Philadelphia
Film Office. Learn more here!
More Than Just Movies
Movies are not the only thing being filmed in Philadelphia. Documentaries, television series, reality TV shows, commercials, and music videos add to Philadelphia’s entertainment industry repertoire. Check out a filmography of what has shot here in Philly over the years.
Locations
Philadelphia is the one of the largest and most historic cities in the US and we have over 4,000 locations that are easily accessible for your production that you can access here. Whether you’re looking to shoot a period piece or a modern day film, Philadelphia and its adjacent counties can easily transform into any time period or place that suits your production. Philadelphia is often used as a stand in for other cities such as New York City, Washington DC, Paris and more.
Our Local Film
Community’s Expertise
We have a wealth of expert production professionals in the Greater Philadelphia area for any and all production needs. From production companies to your casting, onscreen talent and camera, construction, art, electric, lighting, special effects, stunts, wardrobe, accounting, transportation departments and everything in between, we have the professionals who have worked their magic on the most iconic films that happened to film here. A bonus resource is our Crew and Vendors database with listing of thousands of area professionals and support services here!
The Assistance We Offer Filmmakers
The Greater Philadelphia Film Office is fighting hard for filmmakers (did you get the Creed reference there?). GPFO does so
much more than simply collaborate with studio contacts for big budget
films. It’s important to support and grow our local film
community, which is why we offer free educational filmmaking programming and manage filmmaking competitions and initiatives. Funding resources, our job hotline, and film festivals
are among the many resources we share with the help of our community partner organizations.
For Native Philadelphians and Current Residents, the Economy
The economic benefits of filming in Philadelphia are stimulating the local creative economy and area businesses. When movies are shot in Philly, businesses are seeing a greater demand for their services and an increase in profits. The city also receives free press when it’s featured onscreen. Recently the box-office success Creed has put the city of Philadelphia back into the spotlight by capturing the beauty of the city and shedding light on new hotspots and awesome cultures in the city. Shooting a movie in Philadelphia inevitably stimulates tourism. Philadelphia will always be known for the Art Museum steps, the Rocky statue, and cheesesteaks but people will also want to visit Philly’s local restaurants, attractions and venues that are featured in films they love to watch.
