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Great Point Studios opens, marking a new chapter for Buffalo's film industry

The Niagara Street facility has already secured a movie called "The Panic" starring Cary Elwes and Malcolm McDowell that will begin filming in June.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo and Hollywood may not be very similar, but a new $50 million production facility on Niagara Street shows the two cities may have more in common than you’d think.

Great Point Studios held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new TV and film production facility on Buffalo’s West Side on Thursday. The facility includes a 20,000-square-foot stage, two 5,000-square-foot stages, and 70,000 square feet of office and support space. 

The company announced Buffalo as its flagship location among six studios across the world, in locations such as Atlanta, Los Angeles and Wales in the United Kingdom.

“Great Point Studios will play a major role in helping Buffalo to become one of the most sought after film destinations in the country,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said. “Yeah, I said that — in the country.”

Robert Halmi is the former founder of the Hallmark Channel and current CEO of Great Point Studios. He called Buffalo a “dream” location for filmmakers due to a tax incentive where 40% of the budget goes back to the filmmaker.

That incentive has driven the start of a shift in the film industry where Buffalo is playing a larger role.

Back in 2012, there were just two large-scale independent film productions in the city that created 280 jobs and took 25 days to shoot. Over the past decade, the state has incentivized over 65 different projects in Western New York, leading to more than 12,000 hires and $240 million in economic activity. 

“It all comes down to economics when the studios are figuring out where they're gonna shoot something,” Halmi said.

The new studio has already begun attracting big names like actor Stephen McKinley Henderson, who lives in Buffalo and was in Lady Bird and Dune. He believes the new studio can finally show the film industry all that Buffalo has to offer.

“To not have to use my passport, I'd be glad to sleep at home and work here,” he said. “Oh, it would be a joy.”

A new film called "The Panic" starring Cary Elwes and Malcolm McDowell will be the first project to film at the studio, a financial thriller based on a true story that takes place during the Panic of 1907. It is set to start shooting in June.

    

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