For Film Schenectady Commissioner Donna Pennell, seeing the hustle and bustle of production crews descend on the city was a welcome sight. “I began working with location scouts for [‘The Gilded Age’] four years ago,” Pennell said. “It was a matter of timing.
With the 17th and 18th century buildings, it was not hard to transform the neighborhood to the 1880s.” The HBO drama has been no stranger to the Capital Region during its production run, using downtown Troy and Albany’s Washington Park as previous filming locations, but this week marked the Electric City’s debut. “The script calls for what our Stockade District can offer,” Pennell said.
“It’s great to see our region as a whole being tapped into for this series.” “The Gilded Age” isn’t the first major series to use Schenectady as a backdrop in recent years. Amazon Prime Video’s “Modern Love” used the city as a production base for much of its second season in 2020, and another HBO-backed project, “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” was filmed at Armory Studios in 2022.
The city — and surrounding Schenectady County — provides plenty of versatile locations to utilize, which Pennell said makes the area attractive for productions. “I always smile from ear to ear when I have productions coming in and we do these scouts around the city,” she said. “Within a certain radius, they’ll go from our beautiful new Mohawk Harbor area, and then in a stone’s throw, you’re going back in time and it’s, ‘How did I get here?’ It’s such a difference, but it’s so close.
“Then you circle back to our downtown and right around City Hall. I like to call our downtown a ‘Hallmark-ready’ production area. Within the county as a whole, we have so many diverse locations to offer.
” Bringing in major, studio-backed film and television productions is among Film Schenectady’s biggest goals, but it’s not the only one. Donna Pennell Pennell said the commission is dedicated to fostering independent projects, as well as documentary and reality productions. Those were the backbone of what came to the area during much of 2023 when studio projects were halted for much of the year amidst strikes from both the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America.
Even as the work stoppages halted multiple studio productions that were scheduled to film in the area, Film Schenectady remained busy. Several actors taking part in the filming of The Gilded Age walk down Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024.
“It did not stop the true indies or the factual content, the reality productions. Those were not halted,” Pennell said. “During that time, Schenectady welcomed three productions from London — we had one reality show and two docuseries — and then we had reality and lifestyle shows here from WeTV, Discovery, Travel [Channel] and Magnolia, and three indie productions were here.
Even though we didn’t have the large productions that were studio-backed, we were busy. We still had things happening.” ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY Beyond productions coming to the area, Pennell is also excited about multiple film-related projects in the area.
She was recently on set for the final night of filming “The Listeners” with students from the SEAT Center’s inaugural Build Up Filmmakers Career Training Program as they got hands-on training from industry professionals. The group of students, ranging in age from 18-35, will complete their 15-week course under program director Prince Sprauve in October. “I was thoroughly impressed with his group,” Pennell said.
“They all have an interest in doing something in the film industry. We have productions coming in, and I’m ready to start sending them their way. Producers are asking, ‘Who might you have?’ and I think that they’re ready.
” An actor guides a horse drawn wagon up Washington Avenue in The Stockade area of Schenectady, during a day of filming of the series "The Gilded Age" Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. Starting next week, Film Schenectady is partnering with Music Haven for its Alfresco Film & Event Series.
For the next three Fridays, free films will be screened at the Central Park stage, preceded by nights of music and accompanied by food that corresponds to each themed night. The series kicks off this coming Friday with “Bollywood Night,” featuring music from Veena and Devesh Chandra on sitar and tabla, and Lalita Ramnauth on vocals, followed by a screening of the 1995 Indian film “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.” “Reggae Sunset” follows on Aug.
30 with music from Meta and the Cornerstones — led by Senegalese singer Mouhammad ‘Meta’ Dia — and a screening of the 2024 biopic “Bob Marley: One Love.” The series closes on Sept. 6 with “Paint the Park Pink,” featuring classic summer music provided by FLY 92.
3 FM before a screening of the 2023 blockbuster “Barbie.” All three events start at 5 p.m.
Music Haven and Film Schenectady had partnered on a single movie night in 2022 and 2023, but Pennell said that expanding the program this season felt right. “It’s exciting that Schenectady attracts and facilitates and we play host to film and television productions,” Pennell said, “but, we’re just as proud to be involved in a series like this. “It’s sharing film, watching film with your neighbors and your family and your friends, especially in a setting like this.
Under the stars in Central Park, what better way to take in a film?” A Gilded Age actor, left, walks down Washington Avenue with a crew member during the morning scene filming in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. A scene from A Gilded Age is ready to begin being filmed on the front of a home on Washington Avenue during the morning filming in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug.
13, 2024. Actors perform a scene during filming of The Gilded Age on a doorstep of a residence on Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024.
A Gilded Age cinematographer Manuel Billeter, right, offers direction between scenes being filmed on Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. A Gilded Age cinematographer Manuel Billeter, left, offers direction between scenes being filmed on Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug.
13, 2024. A single saddle rider sits atop a horse during filming of The Gilded Age on Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024.
Actors take time between scenes to sit on a stoop in front of a home during filming of The Gilded Age on Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. A Gilded Age crew members, left, stay out of the frame as two actors make their way onto ashington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug.
13, 2024 during filming. A woman captures a few scenes of filming of A Gilded Age, kneeling with her dog, as cast members and horse drawn carriages travel down Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024.
Two men capture a few scenes of filming of A Gilded Age, as cast members and horse drawn carriages travel down Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. Several actors taking part in the filming of The Gilded Age walk down Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug.
13, 2024. A man captures a few scenes of filming of A Gilded Age, as cast members and horse drawn carriages travel down Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024.
A woman captures a few scenes of filming of A Gilded Age, from her window on the second floor above Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. An actor walks with Walker, a 4-year-old English Springer Spaniel owned by Todd Gilbert of Clifton Park, also an actor, not pictured, taking part in the filming of The Gilded Age on Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug.
13, 2024. A horse has a playful moment with an actor during a break in filming of The Gilded Age on Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024.
Actors ride during the filming of scene of The Gilded Age on Washington Avenue in The Stockade section of Schenectady, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024 as people capture the moments out of frame. Some quick video from Tuesday's Gilded Age filming in Schenectady's Stockade.
From our Rick Marshall -.
