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DCP BlogrollCreative Draw
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Trevor Boyer
How to make it in Philadelphia.
Back row, left to right: David Van Allen, Shama Chohan, and Jeff Baxter of Noir and Anne Marie Starker of Shooters Post & Transfer. Front: Chad Jenkins of CHP Productions. Photo: Jason Woodruff
Philadelphia is the sixth-largest city in the United States, but, overshadowed by its neighbors, it's not even a regional capital. A two-hour drive to the northeast, New York dwarfs it in size and cultural cachet, and roughly two-and-a-half hours south, relatively tiny Washington, D.C., garners an order of magnitude more attention, for obvious reasons. And like many older U.S. cities, Philly's population is shrinking.
But that doesn't tell nearly the whole story. During the 1990s, Philadelphia enjoyed a great downtown turnaround, thanks in part to tax policies that attracted the construction (or conversion from commercial space) of thousands of residential units in the downtown area. As heavy industry shrinks in all parts of the United States, Philadelphia has recognized the importance of attracting a thriving creative class. With the large number of universities in the area, graduate retention is a key challenge. Nonprofit group Campus Philly promotes the region as “one big campus.” During his campaign last year, new mayor Michael Nutter noted the importance of aggressively courting a creative class, citing tax policies and internship and mentorship programs as crucial to that goal.
With South Jersey across the Delaware River and a large collection of Pennsylvania suburbs, the Philadelphia television market is the fourth-largest in the country. Dozens of Fortune 1000 companies are based in the area or in the nearby corporate haven of Delaware. This, of course, means a lot of work for those who create video. Time will tell if the city's efforts at retaining creative talent will help the tight-knit local production community to grow. To get an idea for the type of work that goes on in Philly, I visited a large production house, a boutique animation studio, and an independent producer.
