Behind the scenes at the new $50 million Great Point Studios on Niagara Street

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A new slice of Hollywood is ready to come to Buffalo’s west side.

Great Point Studios Buffalo will cut the ribbon on its new state-of-the-art facility on Niagara Street later this month. 7 News anchor Jeff Russo was invited to tour the $50 million complex before the opening.

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Larry Quinn, project developer for Great Point Studios Buffalo, spoke with 7 News about what the new facility will bring to the local film industry.

“It’s a full production studio,” Quinn said, “we can do post-production, we can do film production, we have our own woodworking shop, we probably have some of the best green rooms Of the industry.”

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Great Point Studios is an international entertainment and media company with over 150 years of experience with studios in Yonkers, Atlanta and the United Kingdom.

The Buffalo facility, located at 1155 Niagara Street, has everything filmmakers and creatives need to create high-quality productions, starting with 30,000 square feet of space spread across three stages.

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“Having three stories allows for tremendous flexibility,” Quinn said. “They’re all forty feet (tall), they’re fully air-conditioned, they’re full power, they all have huge internet capacity, you name it.”

The new Great Point Studios comes online as Buffalo continues to evolve into a hot spot for filmmakers, with Western New York serving as the backdrop for several recent films, including Nightmare Alley and A Quiet Place Two.

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The hope is that the new facility will add momentum to Buffalo’s growing film industry.

“We hope this will give Buffalo full-time, year-round employment in a whole new industry,” Quinn said. “When they make movies and TV shows, that’s net new dollars for the community. They’re not funded in Buffalo. They’re funded all over the world.”

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Quinn says he’s already shown the new Great Point Studios to several current film producers, and while he can’t share exact details about what might be on the horizon, he’s certain the new facility attracted the attention of the film industry.

Quinn says the Starz TV show “Raising Kanan” is currently being filmed by Lionsgate Studios at Great Point Studios in Yonkers.

“I think in the short term we would like to have a film production here to start the studio and integrate it,” Quinn said. “I think our holy grail would be to have a TV series here, or a movie, or a TV studio to sublet it, like they do in Yonkers.

Great Point Studios Buffalo will host an invitation-only ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, May 16.