Steiner Studios is a film studio at Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York City. It is the largest film and television production studio complex in the United States outside Hollywood.[2] Steiner Studios, spread across 50 acres (20 ha), contains 30 soundstages as well as additional support space.

Steiner Studios
Company typeStudio
IndustryEntertainment
FoundedBrooklyn, New York, U.S.
FounderDouglas C. Steiner[1]
Headquarters,
ProductsMotion pictures, television programs, commercials, photography
Websitewww.steinerstudios.com

Steiner Studios was founded in 1999,[3] and the first soundstages at the site opened in November 2004. In 2012, Steiner Studios reached an agreement with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to convert its 20-acre Naval Annex Historic Campus into a media and technology hub; the expansion is projected to be completed in the mid-2020s.[4] In 2020, Steiner Studios announced a new $550 million, 900,000 square-foot project in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.[5]

Most recently, Inventing Anna, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, West Side Story, Tick, Tick...Boom!, and And Just Like That… have been filmed at Steiner Studios.

Description

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Steiner Studios is home to thirty soundstages, totaling 780,000 square feet (72,000 m2) and making it New York’s largest production facility.[6] There is also an additional 224,000 square feet (20,800 m2) of support space, which includes offices, dressing rooms, hair and make-up rooms, wardrobe rooms, mill shops, a spray booth, and prop storage.[7] Office and support spaces have access to satellite uplinks and a high-speed data backbone.

Soundstages are equipped with full grids from 26 to 45 feet, are column-free, sound-insulated, and offer loading and staging areas.[6] Built to accommodate film, high-definition television (HDTV) and digital camera productions, each stage is wired with a minimum of 4,800 amps of power and 50 to 200 tons of cooling. Stages are accessed via 13-foot-high (4.0 m) to 20-foot-high (6.1 m) elephant doors.

Each stage is attached to production and support space, including make-up and dressing rooms, green rooms, storage areas, conference rooms, and offices. In addition to the enclosed building areas, there are assembly and secondary areas for "lay-down" of materials and equipment used in large-scale film projects. The facility features a 100-seat screening room and a full commissary, on-site parking, 24/7 security and lighting and grip equipment services.[8]

History

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In 2003, Douglas C. Steiner began development of what later became New York City's largest television and movie production facility, on 20 acres (8.1 ha) of the Navy Yard.[9] Steiner Studios opened in November 2004.[10][11] The site initially included a 280,000-square-foot (26,000 m2) studio spread across five stages.[12]

An expansion of the facility through renovation of a seven-story building in the Navy Yard, was announced by chairman Douglas Steiner, on February 15, 2007.[13] The studio was the location of the 17th annual Gotham Awards held on November 27, 2007.[14]

In March 2012, Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled five new sound stages (a total of 30,500 square feet (2,830 m2)) at Steiner Studios.[10][15][16] The new sound stages all feature two or three wall cycloramas.[17]

Brooklyn College opened the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema on Steiner Studios' production lot for the fall 2013 semester.[18] It is the first public graduate school of film in New York and is thought to be the only film school in the country located on a working film lot.[19] In November 2013, Carnegie Mellon University announced the creation of the Integrative Media Program at Steiner Studios.

Expansions

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In 2012, Steiner Studios proposed building a media campus at the former site of Brooklyn Naval Hospital.[20][21] located just east of the existing Steiner Studios lot.[22]: Figure 1.0–2 (PDF p. 15)  Steiner Studios planned to restore the hospital buildings starting in 2017, and restoration was expected to take nearly a decade.[23]

The extant buildings at the hospital included the main building, surgeon's house, quarters 4 through 7, bachelors' and nurses' quarters, carriage houses and stables, the medical supply depot, and the morgue/lumber shed. Steiner proposed to convert these structures into production, post-production, and production support space.[22]: 1.5 (PDF p. 17)  The hospital had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2014.[24] Steiner Studios' plan calls for the restoration of 15 NRHP-listed buildings at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital campus, but would also demolish some of the NRHP-contributing artifacts to make way for the new facility,[22]: 1.12 (PDF p. 24)  Structures with a total floor area of 2,700 square feet (250 m2) would be demolished and replaced with landscaped lawn space.[22]: 1.13 (PDF p. 25) 

Sunset Park expansion

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In 2020, Steiner Studios signed a deal to build a new $550 million studio complex at the city-owned portion of Bush Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where it would erect a studio of 900,000 square feet (84,000 m2) and eight soundstages.[25][26]

Lobbying

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Steiner Studios benefits from New York's movie production incentive program. Douglas Steiner donated $40,000 to incumbent New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2022 campaign. The company spends $10,000 a month on lobbyists.[27]

Productions

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Film

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Year Films
2005 The Producers: The Movie Musical
2006 Fur
The Hoax
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Inside Man
Factory Girl
The Namesake
2007 Across the Universe
Then She Found Me
Enchanted
Funny Games
The Nanny Diaries
Life Support
Spider-Man 3
American Gangster
Chapter 27
2008 Deception
Revolutionary Road
Burn After Reading
Baby Mama
Wanted
The Wackness
Ghost Town
Pride and Glory
The Guitar
Sex and the City
2009 Loving Leah
Confessions of a Shopaholic
The Taking of Pelham 123
G-Force
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
Brooklyn's Finest
2010 Sex and the City 2
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Every Day
See You in September
When in Rome
Multiple Sarcasms
An Invisible Sign
2011 Mr. Popper's Penguins
The Adjustment Bureau
2012 Men in Black 3
2017 Going in Style
2019 Joker
2021 West Side Story
Tick, Tick...Boom!
2024 IF

Television

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Katherine Clarke (December 1, 2012). "The Closing with Doug Steiner". The Real Deal. Retrieved March 16, 2016. ...My middle name is Craig ....What's your date of birth? 1960...
  2. ^ "Where Ships Happen: New York City museum celebrates Brooklyn Navy Yard's history". Associated Press. November 19, 2011. Archived from the original on January 22, 2012. Visitors learn, for example, that Steiner Studios -- the largest film and television complex outside Hollywood -- is the yard's largest tenant.
  3. ^ "Steiner Studios: Success of New York's TV industry has soundstage owners scrambling for space". Ostroff. October 17, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  4. ^ Julie Satow (August 16, 2012). "From Weeds and Bricks to Media Hub in Brooklyn". New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  5. ^ Kathy McDonald (October 12, 2021). "New York Commercial Real Estate Rides Production Boom". Variety. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Steiner Studios, 'Hollywood East' Expands Facilities". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. March 26, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  7. ^ "Steiner Studios Opens Five New Soundstages in New York". Backstage. March 27, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  8. ^ Steiner Studios Project Overview, steinerstudios.com; accessed August 1, 2018.
  9. ^ Collins, Glenn (July 21, 2003). "On Brooklyn Back Lot, Finally, Some Action; After Years of Talk, a Movie Studio Is Being Built at the Navy Yard". The New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  10. ^ a b "Steiner Studios, 'Hollywood East,' Expands Facilities". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. March 26, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  11. ^ Bagli, Charles V. (February 22, 2006). "Silvercup Studios Sets $1 Billion Complex". The New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  12. ^ Collins, Glenn (2005-06-08). "Lights, Camera, Brooklyn!". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  13. ^ Steiner Studios (2007-11-22). "Press release: Steiner Studios to Sign Lease on Building at Brooklyn Navy Yard, Doubling Space for Feature Film, Television and Commercial Production". steinerstudios.com. Retrieved 2008-06-23. Hollywood-style Steiner Studios to undergo major expansion - adding new soundstages, post-production, photo studios, and office, wardrobe, and warehouse areas.
  14. ^ "Indie Films Best to flock mto Navy Yard", New York Daily News, November 15, 2007.
  15. ^ "NY studios expand in bid for more films, TV shows". Reuters. March 26, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  16. ^ "Mayor Bloomberg Opens Five New Soundstages at Steiner Studios and Announces New Programs to Help New Yorkers Get Jobs in Entertainment Industry". The official website of the City of New York. March 26, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  17. ^ Steiner Studios Specifications, steinerstudios.com; accessed August 1, 2018.
  18. ^ "Brooklyn College, Steiner Studios partnering on new graduate film school". New York Post. January 20, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  19. ^ "Barry Feirstein to Make Gift for Brooklyn College Film School". The Wall Street Journal. January 21, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  20. ^ Satow, Julie (August 17, 2012). "Brooklyn Navy Yard Is Site of Proposed Media Campus". The New York Times. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  21. ^ Smith, Sarah Harrison (June 14, 2013). "A Birthplace of Ships, Transformed". The New York Times. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  22. ^ a b c d AECOM (June 2015). "Final Environmental Impact Statement: Steiner Studios Media Campus" (PDF). Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  23. ^ "Prairie Heals an Old Wound at a Former Brooklyn Cemetery". The New York Times. July 12, 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  24. ^ Brooklyn Navy Yard Historic District (PDF). United States Department of the Interior; National Park Service. April 7, 2014. p. 8. Retrieved September 5, 2018. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  25. ^ King, Kate (2020-08-13). "Steiner Studios to Open Second Film and TV Production Facility in Brooklyn". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
  26. ^ Manrodt, Alexis (August 13, 2020). "Steiner Studios to Build Production Facility in Sunset Park". The Real Deal New York. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  27. ^ Rubinstein, Dana; Fandos, Nicholas (2023-04-26). "As New York Boosts Tax Breaks for Movies, Some Critics Pan the Program". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
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40°42′2″N 73°58′2″W / 40.70056°N 73.96722°W / 40.70056; -73.96722