Lights, Camera, Action: Astoria Welcomes New Outdoor Film Lot
ASTORIA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) – A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Tuesday to celebrate the new outdoor film lot created by Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens.
As 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reported, a portion of 35th Avenue in Astoria has been blocked off with gates for what's being called The Backlot at Kaufman Studios.
Prior to the creation of the lot, production companies were forced to use a real city street when they needed to shoot outdoor scenes, an inconvenience for many in the neighborhood.
Lights, Camera, Action In Astoria
"Whether it be a car scene or climbing out of a truck, a stuntman dropping from the crane as if falling off of a building, they do it in front of a green screen," studio president Hal Rosenbluth said. "So it creates a controlled environment that allows them to do these things."
Among the shows filming at the studios is the Netflix original "Orange is the New Black."
Actress and Brooklyn native Dascha Polanco told D'Auria that it's great to be able to shoot scenes practically in her own backyard.
"There's a lot of history, there's a lot of New York culture, there's a lot of grounding here and I'm just proud," Polanco said.
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