Mayor James Sottile wants to cash in on Kingston’s newfound status as a filmmaking hot spot, but the director of a nonprofit group which works to bring film crews to the area said that red-tape and permit fees will cause the city’s nascent movie boom to fade to black.

Over the past few years, Kingston has developed into a popular location for filmmakers drawn to the city’s quaint streets as well as the presence of high-end pre- and post-production facilities and local talent. This summer actress Vera Farmiga shot scenes for her directorial debut Higher Ground on Fair Street, while around the corner on Wall Street German production company NNY Productions returned for the second year in a row to shoot scenes for a series of made for TV movies.

The sudden emergence of Kingston on filmmakers’ radar has pumped cash into the local economy and helped boost the city’s profile at a time when economic development efforts are increasingly focused on tourism. But, according to Uptown alderman Tom Hoffay (D-Ward 2) the boom has also come with a price as film crews shut down streets and rely on city police and public works employees to facilitate shooting.

“It can be fairly disruptive from the city’s point of view when you have streets shut down to pedestrian traffic and you’re re-routing vehicle traffic. Uptown business owners may find that their customers can’t get to them,” said Hoffay. “If you only get one request [to film] a year it’s not a big deal, but now we’re a new hot spot. It’s an inconvenience, but it’s a happy inconvenience.”

In a June 18 letter, Sottile asked the Common Council to develop an ordinance which would establish a permitting process and a fee structure for film crews working in the city. “This not only will assure that we are protecting our assets, but also taking advantage of an opportunity to bring in additional revenues,” Sottile wrote.

Currently film crews follow an informal process, first contacting City Clerk Arlene Rion, then coordinating parking and street closure requests with Kingston Police Department Lt. John Schatzel. DPW workers put up barricades for free, but crews are required to pay for police overtime at an hourly rate of $50 per officer. Sottile’s proposal could include, in addition to a more formal permitting process, a fee over and above the cost of services.

“These are production companies with very large budgets and I don’t think that writing a check to the city in return for using our streets as a backdrop would be a problem for them,” said Hoffay.

But Laurent Rejto, director of the Hudson Valley Film Commission summed up the new rule’s potential impact succinctly — “It’s the best way that I can think of to get rid of filming in Kingston as fast as possible.”

The film commission is a non-profit group which lobbies film productions to work in the Hudson Valley. The group offers assistance with location scouting, maintains a list of local film professionals and serves as a liaison between productions and local government. According to Rejto, competition for film business is intense and red tape and permit fees would likely send production companies to more user-friendly locales.

“One of the reasons we have filming in Ulster County is because of the lack of rules and regulations,” said Rejto. “There’s a reason why no one shoots in Rockland County; because they’re permit-crazy. It’s the same reason no one shoots on Long Island.”

Rejto said that union rules, which increase production costs for shoots outside the New York metropolitan area, meant that Hudson Valley communities could not afford to boost costs further with permit fees if they still wanted to be considered for film shoots.

“We need a counterbalance,” said Rejto. “We need to reduce fees and red tape to make it attractive.”

At a July 27 meeting of the council’s Laws and Rules Committee Chairman Bob Senor (D-Ward 8) floated the idea of a $500 fee for filming and said that he would like to see the law encompass administrative issues including bonding and proof of insurance. The council voted unanimously to pass Sottile’s suggestion on for further review by the council.