I always love it when Main Street wakes up to the importance of exchange rates.

According to the New York City Film Commissioner, there has been a 36 percent increase in movies made in New York since 2002. Tax incentives and a favorable exchange rate has made filming movies in the US far more attractive.

Over the past year, the US dollar has fallen more than 14 percent against the Euro and Japanese Yen, 13 percent against the Australian dollar and 10 percent against the Canadian dollar. This makes it increasingly more expensive for US filmmakers to shoot abroad and cheaper for foreign filmmakers to shoot in the US.

One director even said that by filming his movie in New York, he saved $500k off of what would have been a $5 million budget had he filmed in Canada.

This trend of filming in NY should continue as NY State Governor David Paterson recently increased the state tax credit from 10 to 30 percent.