See inside the new Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center now open in Industry City
New York University students will soon learn tools of the production trade out in Industry City when visiting the new NYU Tisch School of the Arts Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center, which just opened on the top floor of Building 8, a 35-acre innovation campus on the Brooklyn waterfront.
The 45,586-square-foot facility will open to students this fall, offering them hands-on training experience, but it will also be available for commercial rental projects.
According to an official press release, the space will feature two 3,500-square-foot, double-height and column-free stages, two 1,800-square-foot TV studios, state-of-the-art broadcast and control rooms, dressing rooms, makeup areas, scene workshops, training spaces, offices, a lounge and a bistro. Basically, a little world in and of itself.
“We are thrilled to celebrate this tremendous milestone, delivering a world-class facility to NYU Tisch, complete with high caliber soundstages and studios to train the next generation of filmmakers,” said Glen Siegel, Managing Partner at Industry City, in an official statement about the development. “The Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center will integrate seamlessly into the burgeoning media and production ecosystem at Industry City, allowing students to learn from experts in their field while offering IC businesses proximity to emerging talent.”
What Siegel is likely referring to is the near-explosion of new film and TV studios all across the city in recent years, an expansion that signals New York’s desire to compete with Hollywood when it comes to the movie industry.
A bunch of similar projects have already made headlines all around town, after all:
the Robert De Niro-backed Wildflower Studios is just about done with construction in Astoria, for example. The first-ever TV and film studio set to open in Manhattan, Sunset Pier 94, and East End Studios in Sunnyside are both currently being built as well. And just last week, Borden Studios, a new purpose-built film and TV production facility, announced its intention to debut in Long Island City this spring.
Who even needs Los Angeles anymore?