The Film Industry Moves Into Westchester

June 29 was pronounced “Mapleton, New York Day in Westchester County” by the County Executive last week. If you are wondering what Mapleton has to do with Westchester, the answer is film and television production.

Mapleton is the fictional town at the center of a new 10-episode television series “The Leftovers,” currently running on HBO. From Damon Lindelof (Emmy® winner for “Lost”) and acclaimed novelist Tom Perrotta (Academy Award® nominee for “Little Children”), “The Leftovers” is based on Perrotta’s bestselling novel of the same name, produced for HBO by White Rabbit in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Starring  Justin Theroux, Amy Brenneman, Christopher Eccleston and Liv Tyler, the show has been filmed in settings across the county, as well as on an  elaborate set built at the new Haven Studios NY in Mount Vernon.

“Westchester’s beautiful parks, shorelines, historic Main Streets, suburban neighborhoods and bustling urban areas provide great backdrops for movies and television shows,” said Astorino from the set of “The Leftovers” in Mount Vernon last week. “The Leftovers is just the latest starring role for Westchester, and we are very proud to have worked with everyone involved in the production. Obviously, we love the glamor. But film production also makes business sense in terms of jobs and dollars coming into our local communities. Just six months into 2014, we have surpassed the revenues generated by film and television production in all of 2013.”

For “The Leftovers,” the 42,270 square-foot production space at Haven Studios was transformed into the interior of a suburban residence and a police station. “We were excited to get a tenant so soon after marketing the space to the film industry,” said Nicole Zeller, the owner of the new studio and vice president of Zelco Industries. “We had so much interest in the space. It was clearly needed in the region.”

In addition to “The Leftovers,” other recent television series that have filmed multiple episodes—and in some cases, multiple seasons—in Westchester include, “The Blacklist,” “The Following,” “Elementary,” “Person of Interest,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “The Americans,” “Girls,” and “The Good Wife.” Feature films that have recently wrapped include “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Winter’s Tale,” and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”

Adam Stone

Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.