Buffalo Central Terminal

Buffalo battles for a slice of Hollywood
Business First of Buffalo, May 30, 2005
by Annie Deck-Miller

Mark Stricklin is sick of hearing about Toronto.

Specifically, he’s tired of people who expect that because Toronto has a busy, prosperous film and TV industry, Buffalo, 100 miles to the south and with natural and architectural assets, could and should have a healthy share of that action.

Comparing Buffalo’s film potential to that of any Canadian city is “ludicrous,” says Buffalo’s film commissioner.

“We can’t be compared to Canada. There’s no comparison to Toronto,” Stricklin says. “You get so tired of going into that. It’s apples and oranges.”

Buffalo can’t seem to step out of the shadow of the imposing neighbor that is Toronto. The Toronto metro area, with a population roughly five times larger than the Buffalo region, keeps growing exponentially as this community shrinks and falters economically.

But Stricklin, who was hired to launch the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission three years ago, says the best way for Buffalo to carve out a name for itself in the international film-production community is chink by chink.

“What I’m really pushing here are independent projects, making Western New York a haven for independent production,” Stricklin says. The independent feature category applies to films with budgets between $500,000 and $15 million.

“The nice thing about independents,” he says, “is that just about all the money they have for the production stays here.

“But that’s the competition worldwide. There are 320 film commissions worldwide, and all of them are trying to vie for the same thing. And unfortunately, it’s not just location-driven anymore: It’s all infrastructure-driven, incentive-driven.”

In August, the state created the Empire State Film Production Credit program which allows New York to offer producers a 10 percent tax credit when they film three-quarters of a project in the state.

But Canadian federal and provincial incentives offer — in the case of Ontario — a nearly 30-percent tax credit on film and television projects. And many Canadian cities have been building up technical infrastructure in the last two decades.

The next six months may see Buffalo filling some of the chinks in the picture for local production.

Stricklin says if six film projects that scouted here choose Buffalo for their shoots, 2005 could be a banner year for Buffalo on film. The films represent “six potential projects that are more than wishful thinking,” Stricklin says.

The six films are:

“Nicholas of Myra,” a homegrown screenplay by Gerald Hartke. The area resident will also direct the film, his first full-length feature.
“The script is absolutely wonderful,” Stricklin says of the film, an historical epic about the origins of St. Nicholas. “It’s one of the best scripts I’ve read in a long time for a first-time filmmaker.”

“Poultrygeist,” a horror musical about zombie chickens with a budget around $500,000, set to shoot here this summer.

“Lockport,” a feature in the $4 million to $6 million range about a talented young hockey player. It would begin shooting in the fall.

Not confirmed but looking promising is “The Savages,” a script written for Buffalo by director Tamara Jenkins. The feature, which would have a budget of about $10 million, follows an aging father from Arizona to a nursing home in Western New York, where his son and daughter live. “I think we have a real good shot at this one,” Stricklin says.

Also in the wings are a psychological mystery that could shoot at the Buffalo Psychiatric Center and a supernatural thriller that producers want in the Central Terminal.

Buffalo has cheerleaders in Toronto who will be rooting for production prospects.

“I think Buffalo, from being there a few times myself, they have some great old buildings,” says Louise Hall, a training assistant director for the Canadian series “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” Though some of them “look pretty decrepit,” she says, they would be “great background for some scenes.”

“I would love to film in Buffalo,” says director Stefan Scaini, whose film and TV credits over the last 20 years include several episodes of “Degrassi.”

“Buffalo’s such a great town. The locations are outstanding,” he says. “The downtown core, it’s like frozen in time from the 40s. Or even before that. There’s beautiful Deco buildings. And the terrain around, when you get to the different ‘burbs, they all have kind of a different vibe, which is so great.

“It’s a great city. I don’t know why more filming’s not done there,” Scaini says. “I’m actually working on a screenplay now that Buffalo is the perfect setting for,” he adds.

Hartke, writer/director of “Nicholas of Myra,” says he’s been pleasantly surprised by the support that area residents, including some from the production and film community locally, have put behind his project.

“I realized there was a potential industry here in Buffalo,” he says, “and that I didn’t have to do this on my own.”

“I think this kid’s going to make it,” Stricklin says of Hartke. “I think he’s really going to surprise a lot of people.”