Professor and Director of Television and Film Arts at Buffalo State University
Aaron Daniel Annas
By Andrew DiMartino
Construction on the Niagara Street Studio site at the corner of Niagara and West Ferry Street is well underway and the hopes for impact on Buffalo’s West Side remain strong. The future site is already generating interest from the community as the possibilities for new opportunities grow.
Professor and Director of Television and Film Arts at Buffalo State University, Aaron Daniel Annas believes that a partnership between the university and Niagara Street Studio is very likely given the current collaborations with established film studios.
Buffalo Filmworks, for example, partners with Buffalo State, Annas said.
"There was just a media production project, a music video, shot at the soundstage,” Annas shared, “it was a professional project that students worked together on.”
He suggests the addition of a new studio would offer students looking to enter a career in the film industry better chances to work on professional projects right here in the neighborhood.
The studio's impact reaches further than just college campuses however, since businesses in and outside the realm of film production could be called on to help with the projects the studio is working on.
Buffalo Expendables, 799 Seneca St., supplies productions across Western New York with necessary equipment ranging from headsets and cords to tape and clamps. Co-founders Amy Cortese and Matthew Quinn are excited to begin working with the studio and to provide it with the proper tools needed to make their projects possible.
“I am hopeful and anticipate it being a big deal.” Quinn said, “If some series came and took over that space and needed to be in production five days a week, that would change a lot of people’s lives around here.”
It is important not only for big budget films to want to shoot in Buffalo but also for more consistent, long-running productions such as television series to come to the city. Some television shows have completely changed the landscape of the cities they filmed in, such as AMC’s The Walking Dead and its impact on the city of Atlanta.
“With the larger productions that have been here, I think the nice thing about when somebody dips their toe into Buffalo is that they always like it here,” Cortese said. “Our city is very welcoming of them coming here and making movies, being very cooperative and willing to do what we can.”
The location of the studio on Niagara Street is also an indicator of the city's efforts towards investing in the district. Buying the 1155 Niagara St. property from Rich Products Corp. gave Great Point Media a great spot in the city and a valued local investment partner, Buffalo NIagara Film Office Director of Operations Rich Wall said.
"I think geographically its location in a Buffalo Promise Neighborhood, transportation access, and proximity to a ready-to-go workforce made this West Side location a great choice,” Wall said.
He described the studio as another area of support in the city's investments to Niagara Streets infrastructure, turning the industrial district into a bustling business community.
Not only is the location great but the timing as well. As a way to encourage productions to film in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul is implementing the New York State Film Tax Credit Program. Annas believes this tax break for filming expenses is going to increase productions in the state to the levels seen in pre-pandemic years, or possibly beyond.
