And … Action: Filming Is Back in New York

At first glance, there was nothing unusual about the small park in Sunnyside, Queens. A kid sailed back and forth on a swing. Other children scampered over a jungle gym and played basketball.

But upon closer inspection, the streetlamp lying on its side turned out to be a prop. So was the police car on the corner and the candlelit memorial at the playground entrance. The woman rushing up the steps crying “My baby!” was an actor.

The cast and crew of the CBS police drama “Blue Bloods” had infiltrated the park on a recent afternoon and converted it into a film set. Donnie Wahlberg and Marisa Ramirez, actors who star as New York City police detectives, stood at the ready. Authoritative voices were amplified over multiple walkie-talkies.

“Quiet please. Rolling. Background. And … action.”

After a pause during the coronavirus pandemic beginning in 2020 and disruptions caused by the writers’ and actors’ strikes last year, motion picture production has returned to New York City.

In the weeks since the strikes ended, the number of permits issued by the city for projects being filmed on public property has quickly rebounded — doubling between November and December and continuing to increase since then. Last month, the city issued 389 permits for 88 different projects, including television series like “Daredevil,” “Law & Order,” “Elsbeth” and “FBI,” as well as major feature films like “Friendship” and “The Penguin.”

“It’s revving up,” said Pat Kaufman, the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. “It’s happening.”