An upcoming independent film, “Trouble,” is being filmed at the Harrison police station on May 13. The production company behind the project, Trouble-Free Inc., has also applied to film at 69 Buckout Road in West Harrison, and it is the 12th project to be shot in Harrison this year alone.
According to Town Clerk Jackie Greer, the town/village of Harrison has served as a film site for several dozen television shows and movies over the past few years.
She said that in addition to the 12 filming applications submitted to her office this year, it was preceded by 38 applications in 2015 and 36 in 2014.
When asked why she thinks Harrison gets so many requests from filmmakers to shoot within the town, Greer said, “I work well with the location people, and since we have a good working relationship, we have a lot of people coming back.”
Greer also said that this good relationship brings back many return filmmakers. She cited the Amazon Prime television show “Red Oaks” as an example, and said that they’ve applied to film in Harrison about five times so far and will be back to film more “in a couple of weeks.”
Some other popular shows that have filmed in Harrison include “The Following,” which aired on Fox until 2015, “Madame Secretary” and “Elementary” on CBS, “Billions” on Showtime, “Blind Spot” on NBC, and the HBO series “The Leftovers,” which also used the police station. The community has also served as a site for several movies, including the HBO film “The Wizard of Lies” about the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme and “Blue Angel,” an upcoming independent drama starring Stanley Tucci.
To film a project in Harrison, there’s a licensing fee of $1,000, plus an additional cost of $500 per day that the license holder is filming. According to the town clerk, this has provided Harrison with $46,000 in revenue since 2014.
In addition to paying fees, Trouble-Free Inc. has also given a $3,000 donation to the Harrison Police Department for allowing the company to film at the station.
A representative from Trouble-Free Inc. could not be reached for comment as of press time.
