Something new for Buffalo: A privately financed, full service film and television production facility. Due for completion in September 2021, the project may open a new chapter for the region’s economy.
With it, the City of Buffalo may be able to expand its influence in that durable industry, perhaps luring year-round Hollywood projects, and a star or two, and scores of local crew, local teamsters, Mom & Pop entrepreneurs and hometown interns.
It is more than a dream. Shovels will hit the ground next month on Niagara Street, across from Rich Products’ world headquarters. Indeed, it was thanks to the persistence of Bob and Mindy Rich and a constellation of local film boosters who pushed for state film tax credits, elected officials and others that the project is going forward.
This is no small feat and one during a pandemic, no less.
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Grand Point Capital Management, a media investment fund, purchased the land from Rich Holdings, a holding company for Rich Products. Robert Halmi, an Emmy award-winning producer and former studio head who founded the Hallmark Channel and runs Great Point Capital with Fehmi Zeko, have high praise for Buffalo and the local and state support provided for the film industry.
The facility will include two 20,000-square-foot sound stages and 70,000 square feet of office and support space, including editing bays and sound mixing.
Moreover, it includes jobs.
It is made possible because of many behind-the-scenes principles, including the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission and the administration of Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown. And, perhaps deserving its own “starred” dressing room, is New York’s 25% production tax credit. Those credits lower costs for eligible film companies and deliver an additional 10% benefit in several upstate counties, including in Western New York.
State Sen. Rob Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, is a longtime critic of the credit though he thought shooting “A Quiet Place Part II” in his hometown last summer was “ ... great” and “ ... awesome.” The state senator believes the $420 million annual subsidy is too much. It should be $50 million and focused on building the industry in Western New York and other upstate regions (less so, New York City) and aim for small productions or independent movies.
His argument falls apart in light of a new industry building on the city’s West Side, adding to the transformation already taking shape there, and the promise of good-paying jobs. Moreover, look at the $60 million worth of economic benefits to the area that “A Quiet Place Part II” delivered. In the big picture, film productions spent $76 million in Western New York in 2019, a threefold increase over the previous high of $25.3 million in 2017, according to the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission.
As Commissioner Tim Clark noted, the local crew base, which includes members of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, Local 10 and the Theatrical Teamsters Local 817, has grown from “a few dozen to probably a few hundred.” And it continues to grow.
Consider it moviemaking as light industry or light manufacturing with a “screaming” need for the existing tax credits, said Clark, who is also chairman of the Association of Film Commissioners International. Those incentives help drive moviemakers to New York State, he said, particularly upstate, where they have available a seasoned, trained crew base, he said.
Together, it stands to provide a good steady living as it adds another industry to the regional fabric of banking, medical, research, development, manufacturing and service sectors already in place.
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