NYC Names Kwame Amoaku Deputy Film Commissioner; Industry Veteran Was Head Of Chicago Film Office

deadline.com:

Kwame Amoaku, former director of the Chicago Film Office, is the new deputy commissioner for film at the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, where he’ll be principal advisor on production.

A push by Mayor Eric Adams to accelerate the industry’s recovery, and surpass pre-pandemic levels, also includes creating a council of local industry insiders, and assigning a film liaison at every city agency.Amoaku, a well-liked former location manager, director, producer and actor, held the Chicago post from 2019.The Film And Television Production Industry Council advisory group gathers executives from NBC Universal, Netflix, Paramount and HBO, heads of production hubs Steiner Studios, Kauffman Astoria and Broadway Stages and representatives of guilds, unions and trade organizations.

It’s led by DGA Eastern Executive Director Neil Dudich, and April Taylor, executive producer and New York Covid Protection Response Alliance co-chair.Mayor Adams also signed Executive Order 26, which places a film office liaison at every city agency and is meant to facilitate on-location production across the five boroughs.“A strong foundation of production workers calls New York City home, but sadly many saw their jobs and their livelihoods suffer during Covid-19.

This administration is taking action to change that,” Adams said. “We vowed to help the film and television industry fully recover.”“New York City has some amazing stories to tell, and we’re going to make it easy as possible for the film and television industry to tell each one of those stories,” he said.NYC’s film and television industry supported over 185,000 local jobs and accounted for more than $82 billion in total economic output before the pandemic.