The Rise in Local Location Filming
The yellow signs posted on poles read “To Set” in black, block letters. This could mean only one thing: another feature movie or television production is filming on location in the Rivertowns.
To Set
Set Sign in Irvington (Courtesy of Henrietta Toth)
In recent years, on-location filming has increased in the Rivertowns. Location managers, as well as producers and directors, have found that the area offers diverse locations to accommodate their scripts as well as their production crew and cast of actors. The proximity of these on-location filming sites to metro areas, such as New York City, is especially advantageous for utilizing available talent and crew hubs.
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Production personnel have cited the Rivertowns as desirable shooting locations because the villages can appear on film to be anywhere in the United States. Anthony Costantini, who as village clerk for Hastings-on-Hudson processes film permits, explains, “Most productions look to film in our downtown, and many of the location managers and producers appreciate the ‘small-town charm’ that the village has. The storefronts make a great retro-era backdrop.”
Filming The Crowded Room on Man Street in Hastings. (Courtesy of Bianca Arau)
Whether shooting on Main or residential streets, productions might film all or a few scenes in the Rivertowns. The Rivertowns, however, provide the base locations that a production’s art and construction departments, as well as its set decorators, “dress” and turn it into the set required by the script.
The growth in location filming in the Rivertowns may be attributed in part to Westchester County Tourism & Film, which has promoted the region to filmmakers by stating on its website the availability of “an array of locations . . . within the NYC film zone . . . professional crews and suppliers, and state-of-the art soundstages and post-production facilities.” Credit also might be given to Westchester natives who return to the county to film their projects. Fred Berger, a Larchmont native and producer of 2016’s La La Land, also produced the 2018 film I Think We’re Alone Now, which shot scenes in downtown Hastings. Peter Callahan, a Hastings native, set his films, 2001’s Last Ball and 2022’s Out and About, entirely in his hometown.
Read articles from current and all previous issues of The Neighborhood Buzz: Rivertowns, plus receive a printed copy of the magazine every 3 months.
Location, Location, Location
The Wolf of Wall Street’s Jonah Hill in Ardsley (Courtesy of Alan Greenwald)
The phrase “location, location, location” was coined to pertain to property values but it could relate to film locations as well. The location where a film is shot is important because it evokes a real-world setting.
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This was an old defunct restaurant/rest stop on the Sawmill Parkway. It had two buildings with a parking lot in the center. . . . The art department added an island for our gas pumps, and we turned the other smaller building into a gas station/auto body repair shop.
—Regina Graves, set decorator on The Irishman - Set Decor, December 12, 2019