BUFFALO, N.Y. — There may be an emerging silver screen salute to Buffalo and Western New York for the region's growing role in bringing movie magic to audiences around the world.
We got a front row look at a film studio now expanding here in Buffalo, and two more that are in the works in the Queen City.
Some of the props or set decorations as they're known in the biz -- the film production biz -- can still be found at the Buffalo Filmworks workshop in an old factory complex off Babcock Street in Buffalo.
They tell us some indoor sets for a "Quiet Place 2" were built here, and there were other recent films at work. George Pittas is an owner and one of the partners of Buffalo Filmworks, which was started in 2018 in that old South Buffalo factory that once produced railroad cars.
Pittas says: "We just did what we called 'Cabrini' last summer. I think everybody saw them around in the city doing their shooting. Paramount Pictures has been here several times. They've been here with 'Paranormal Activity, Next of Kin' that was just done last year as well."
And now work on a newly converted soundstage which is 39 feet high and three football fields long. The massive interior walls are being sprayed with a flat back material, which is actually sound-proofing.
And they have some blockbuster plans for the future, as Buffalo Filmworks Partner Jennifer O'Neill explains.
"It will allow us to have more space for larger productions," O'Neill said, "you know, on the scale of a Marvel production or something like that. We're hoping to be able to bring them in with a stage of this size."
And they're maybe not alone.
While it's still just a snow-covered field off South Park near the Tesla plant in South Buffalo, Buffalo Studios headed by Los Angeles-based producer and Grand Island native Matt Fleckenstein recently got a state grant. They got what he says are new investors to build at this site a $75 million projected large film studio near the Buffalo River.
Fleckenstein says the pandemic did delay their timetable for the project, which was first unveiled back in October of 2020.
Then on Niagara Street, Rich Products and Great Point Capital Media are still jointly planning their $50 million Great Point Studios complex. A spokesperson says a brownfield cleanup is finished, and they're ready to break ground once the weather permits, and then maybe open by the end of the year or early 2023.
This is all helped along by the sometimes controversial state film production tax credit and the growing regional reputation and film production workforce here in Buffalo.
O'Neill from Buffalo Filmworks welcomes the potential competition.
She told 2 On Your Side: "Right now studios are, you know, in L.A. and New York, are booked out until 2025. I talked with a couple of producers yesterday. They can't find space anywhere, so I think the more development that goes on here, the better. It's just going to create more jobs."