Your Big Thinkers Big Thinkers

Film COOP, the Cooperstown Oneonta Otsego County Film Partnership, Incorporated launches Film Office.  What the X-Files did for Vancouver and British Columbia is similar to what Film COOP aims to do for Central New York.   In other words, please put it on the map for movies & TV production, and be a game-changer.  For context, when the thriller A Quiet Place shot in the Buffalo/Niagara area of New York, the production rented 12,000 room units in roughly half a year. And that’s just the sleeping arrangements.  Factor in the jobs, purchases, meals, equipment rentals, raw materials, and more, and the potential money to be made in the Cooperstown area adds up fast.  So how did this massive effort come to be?  I recently sat down with Greg Klein, an actor, writer, and filmmaker who is now the Board President of Film COOP, which stands for the Cooperstown Oneonta Otsego County Film Partnership, Incorporated. And yes, I’d be dropping that acronym all day if the alternative was saying that mouthful out loud each time.  In a way, we can thank The Legend of Sleepy Hollow author Washington Irving for Greg’s start in acting, as it was at a July 4th event at the 19th-century author’s home where Greg was thrown on stage to act because the lead actor had just suffered a concussion and couldn’t go on.  He was then bitten by the famous acting bug, which led him to acting lessons in nearby New York City, leading to appearances on shows ranging from Law & Order, One Life to Live, 24, and The Chappelle Show. The guy has a range!  His adventurous career path took him from New York to LA to the other LA – Louisiana.  But Greg and his wife were determined to raise their young son closer to his Upstate NY roots and headed to Cooperstown.  Others had tried to set up a film office for the region there, and he was next to take a swing at it, suddenly immersing himself in the worlds of tax credits, 501C6s, boards of directors, and more.    We’re pausing here for the benefit of any of you who have never been to Central New York.  You may have heard of the Finger Lakes. You likely know the Baseball Hall of Fame is in Cooperstown.  You may wonder where Central New York ends at the more famous Upstate New York begins.   Good luck with that.  But what you DO need to know is why this area – like Vancouver & British Columbia for The X-Files, is a cinematographer’s paradise: twisting rivers, pristine lakes, thickly wooded areas that can pass for many other places in the USA; mountains, valleys, farms, small towns, twisting roads, and every kind of weather you’d ever want in a movie. And again, at bottom-dollar prices, when you consider production costs (and yes, those meals and hotel rooms) in New York City, LA, and any number of other metropolitan areas.  Right now, Greg and Film COOP is busy getting the word out, fielding calls, building that nest egg, and working toward adding staff, so Greg can better concentrate on what he needs to do.  Two movies have wrapped production around charming Oneonta (near Cooperstown) this year, including the sci-fi action flick Asteroid.  They could use your love on Facebook at Film Coop, or check out their website, www.film-coop.com. And we here at Smalltalk With Jill will chat with Greg again when they’re ready to announce even more exciting news.