10 Reasons Chicago Is Quietly Becoming One of America’s Top Production Markets
Chicago has always had a production industry, but for years the city was often viewed as a secondary market by national productions that defaulted to Los Angeles or New York when given the choice. That perception is changing quickly. A combination of competitive incentives, world-class infrastructure, extraordinary locations, talented Chicago videographers, filmmakers, and a crew base that rivals the coasts is making Chicago an increasingly compelling first choice rather than a fallback option.
Here are the reasons the American production industry is paying more attention to Chicago than at any point in recent memory.
#1 The Illinois Tax Credit Is Among the Most Competitive Nationally
Illinois’s 30 percent production spending tax credit, along with the additional 15 percent Illinois resident bonus, creates one of the most competitive incentive structures in the country. For qualifying productions, the effective savings can be substantial enough to make Chicago genuinely cost-competitive with Los Angeles, even before accounting for the lower below-the-line costs the Chicago market provides.
The strength of this incentive structure has been a major driver of Chicago’s growing entertainment production volume. It is attracting projects that previously would have gone directly to the coasts.
#2 The Below-the-Line Cost Structure Is Dramatically Better Than the Coasts
Crew rates, location fees, housing costs, and the general cost of production infrastructure in Chicago are significantly lower than comparable costs in Los Angeles and New York. When these savings are combined with the Illinois tax credit, the cost difference for similar production quality can be dramatic.
Productions that run comparative budget analyses between Chicago and Los Angeles consistently find that Chicago’s total production cost for equivalent above-the-line ambition and production value is meaningfully lower. That reality is increasingly influencing where productions choose to base themselves.
#3 The Episodic Television Boom Has Built Out the Infrastructure
Chicago’s run as a major episodic television market, driven by productions such as Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med, has built a strong production infrastructure. That includes standing sets, established crew relationships, and experienced department heads with long-running show experience, all of which are now available to new productions as mature and proven resources.
The discipline and organizational strength that come from sustaining long-running television productions for years are embedded in Chicago’s production community in ways that benefit every project entering the market.
#4 The Architectural Location Portfolio Is World-Class
Chicago’s architecture is among the most celebrated in the world, and the city’s location portfolio is equally impressive. From the Loop’s commercial towers to the neighborhoods’ residential diversity to the lakefront’s dramatic civic scale, Chicago offers productions visual options that are truly world-class.
For productions that need authentic urban grandeur without the competition and cost of New York, or the sprawling horizontal scale of Los Angeles, Chicago’s compact and vertically rich urban environment is an extraordinary production asset.
#5 The Advertising Industry Provides a Stable Production Foundation
Chicago’s major advertising agency community generates a consistent volume of high-budget commercial production. That steady work gives Chicago’s crew base year-round employment, keeps equipment houses active, and maintains the technical skills and production standards that entertainment productions depend on.
This advertising-driven production foundation helps keep Chicago’s crew base more consistently employed and professionally sharp than in markets where production work is more episodic and irregular.
#6 The Diverse Neighborhood Environment Serves Every Story
Chicago’s neighborhood diversity includes everything from dense urban commercial environments to historic residential architecture, industrial corridors, and lakefront parkways. As a result, productions can find the visual environment they need for almost any story within the city’s boundaries, without the kind of location sprawl Los Angeles productions routinely face.
The ability to keep production contained within a manageable geographic area while still accessing dramatic visual variety is a logistics and cost advantage that Chicago-based productions consistently benefit from.
#7 The Post-Production Community Is Growing Fast
Chicago’s post-production ecosystem, including established color facilities, sound mixing stages, and visual effects companies, has been expanding to match the increasing volume of production using the city as its primary market. The presence of world-class post facilities in Chicago means productions do not need to relocate to Los Angeles or New York to access the finishing quality major releases require.
This growing post-production capability is one of the reasons Chicago is becoming increasingly viable as a full-service production market rather than simply a principal photography market that exports its post work.
#8 The Theater Community Creates a Deep Talent Pipeline
Chicago’s theater community is one of the most respected in the world, anchored by institutions such as Steppenwolf, Goodman Theatre, and Second City. It creates a steady pipeline of exceptional acting talent that flows into film and television production. The training, craft, and work ethic developed in Chicago theater translate directly into the quality of performance available to productions working in this market.
For productions that place a high value on casting, Chicago’s theater pipeline is one of the most compelling reasons to choose the city.
#9 The Mayor’s Office Film Office Is Actively Production-Friendly
Chicago’s Film Office has a long track record of working proactively with productions to facilitate location access, permit processing, and city cooperation. The office treats production as an economic development priority and has built systems and relationships that make the city’s complex permitting environment far more manageable than it might otherwise be.
Productions that engage with the Chicago Film Office early in pre-production consistently find it to be a genuinely useful partner rather than a bureaucratic obstacle.
#10 The Second City Culture Values Storytelling at Every Level
Chicago has a deeper culture of storytelling, performance, and creative excellence than almost any other American city. From the improv tradition of Second City and iO to the literary legacy of Saul Bellow and Sandra Cisneros to the sound of Chicago blues, the city has a creative DNA that runs through its entire production community and elevates the ambition and quality of the work produced there.
For productions that care about the creative culture of the market they are working in, Chicago offers a depth of artistic tradition and commitment to craft that is genuinely inspiring.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Chicago is not quietly becoming a top production market. It already is one, and the industry is beginning to recognize what Chicago’s production community has known for years. The combination of incentives, infrastructure, locations, talent, and creative culture makes Chicago one of the most compelling production markets in the United States for productions of every scale and format.
Beverly Boy Productions has deep Chicago roots and is positioned to help productions of every ambition level make the most of everything this city offers. If you are evaluating Chicago for your next production, we are ready to show you exactly what it can do.
