The Kingston Film Office says production of Paramount’s upcoming show ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ is expected to have generated more than $ 2,000,000.
The cast and crew of the show were in Kingston from July 26 to August 10 and again from August 25 to September 29, and the most recent report from Tourism Kingston estimated that there was more than $ 2,000,000 in direct economic expenditures through from the use of hotels to Belleville. , extensive use of local providers and the use of support facilities and manpower.
‘Mayor of Kingstown’ also saw 30 Kingston residents employed in junior crew roles, as well as more than 100 community members filling background roles.
The report goes on to state that this estimate does not include the economic impact of more than 500 cast and crew members residing in Kingston for the better part of two months.
The show was created by Hugh Dillon and stars Jeremy Renner and the first episode will premiere on November 14.
The Paramount Plus project has been just one of several large-scale film productions in the area, including the most recent ‘The Lost Symbol’ on NBC’s Peacock streaming service and the feature film ‘Verona’ shot entirely in the Kingston region. Frontenac.
Alex Jansen, Film Commissioner for the Kingston Film Bureau, says ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ has been a great centerpiece of what has been a generally strong production industry.
He added that the main film production sector has actually been able to rebound quite strongly in the pandemic, and that Kingston and the province have seen record levels of major production.
Jansen says that the pandemic and COVID restrictions have had a more significant impact on smaller productions, but with those declining, that too is starting to pick up.
“The COVID restrictions are necessarily quite strict and expensive,” Jansen said.
“You are seeing massive amounts of COVID testing, PPE, restrictions and insurance implications. It makes smaller productions more difficult to operate, but we are seeing that they are now starting to recover. “
In total, Kingston hosted ten productions in the third quarter of 2021, and the Film Office aims to attract more productions from start to finish.
Jansen says that is getting easier as Kingston acquires a growing reputation as a production-friendly city.
Although local productions in the city saw a significant decline due to costs and restrictions associated with COVID-19, the Kingston Film Office managed to support fifteen local production companies in creating music videos last winter.
Jansen said the Film Bureau hopes the same initiative will happen again early in the new year.
The Film Office is also in an advanced stage of negotiations to bring the production of two feature films to the city.
Reference-ygknews.ca