The former IBM campus in East Fishkill is home to tech companies, a brewery, a bakery, a gym and now Michelson Studios at iPark84.
The Hudson Valley Film Commission held a mixer at the studios at 745 East Drive on July 31, to celebrate its opening as the newest production facility in the region.
The commission was key to connecting Eric Michelson with Joe Cotter, president of National Resources, the company that owns the iPark, in addition to several other redeveloped industrial sites around New York and Connecticut.
Cotter is no stranger to redeveloping sites for film studio space. In fact, iPark Hudson in Yonkers is being developed into a studio for production company Lionsgate. So he was quickly sold on Michelson”™s concept for the Fishkill space.
“I met him, I talked about the studio idea that I had, and then within five seconds, he goes, ”˜Okay, yeah, we”™ll build it,”™” Michelson said. “And I”™m looking at him going, are you the Wizard of Oz?”
Michelson, for his part, isn”™t quite the type to normally be fazed by an appearance from the Wizard of Oz. His parents, Harold and Lillian Michelson, worked in Hollywood. His father was an art director and production designer, working on films such as “Catch-22,” “Ship of Fools,” “The Graduate,” “West Side Story,” “Cleopatra” and several Alfred Hitchcock and Star Trek films. His mother was a researcher, working with Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola and David Lynch, and on movies such as “Scarface,” “Rosemary”™s Baby” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Their legacies are immortalized now in Daniel Raim”™s documentary “Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story,” and the characters of the king and queen in the Shrek movies are named after them, too.
“I have a pretty good idea of what a movie studio is because I was raised on them,” Michelson said. “Warner Brothers, Columbia, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal, MGM. You know, my father went from studio to studio and my mother went from studio to studio, so you were always on the lot.”
Michelson eventually came to the East Coast, but hasn”™t forgotten his time in Hollywood studios. He designed his first studio, Michelson Studio 1 NYC, for himself. An 8,000-square-foot studio in Manhattan, he used it for his own art and photography, and later began to rent it out to other artists and filmmakers.
He expanded to Middletown with Michelson Studio 2, which was one of the largest film studios in the state until it burned down in November 2020. The studio was 60,000 square feet, with 60-foot ceilings, housed in a building built in 1910 and previously used by O&W Railway to repair trains. Since trains were wheeled directly into the building, it had no supporting columns getting in the way of the space, making it ideal for a studio.
He had spent years renovating it and making it into a theatrical environment, but the fire destroyed it all. Michelson sought to rebuild the studio at the original Middletown location, but legal complications regarding who was at fault for the fire were set to prolong the process.
At iPark, Michelson and National Resources will repurpose the existing space similarly. But in addition to the 52,500-square-foot stage that is already open, with 23-foot ceilings and two loading docks, eight new stages have been proposed to be built, although they have not yet received approval from the town of East Fishkill.
The new stages will be built from scratch and managed in partnership with Michelson and National Resources.
“This is something that National Resources is going to own,” Michelson said. “In essence, it”™s like a partnership between the two of us, with my expertise in terms of running a motion picture studio and bringing in clients and understanding how to build these sites. I also understand how to soundproof, these things and what the requirements are in the industry, considering the fact that I”™ve been in the industry with my parents since day one.”
According to Michelson, most film studios in New York and on the East Coast are in repurposed spaces. In Los Angeles, most studios are custom-built for filming. He hopes to bring that level of purposefulness in the studio space to the East Coast. While the designs for the studios will be simple, they”™ll be exactly what crews need.
“Whereas a lot of people are repurposing buildings that have columns in them or repurposing buildings that are, you know, the configuration is odd ”” it doesn”™t have enough loading docks, it”™s too far from the city, it”™s got multiple problems,” Michelson said. “But they go ahead with the many ways it”™s just going, look, screw it, you know, this is what we”™re going to give the industry because this is what we”™re able to find up here in Orange County or Dutchess County or Ulster County. People are running around going, let”™s just get some real estate adapted. Most of these buildings are 26 feet high and there”™s a million of them and they have columns in them. Why don”™t I just order one that doesn”™t have any columns and is another 14 feet tall ”¦ All I”™m doing is copying what”™s been done in California since the 1930s.”
The proposed changes at iPark include six 30,000-square-foot facilities and two 15,000-square-foot facilities, all with 40-foot high ceilings.
Another aspect that Michelson is looking forward to is a 10-acre backlot, with a city street set to provide a controlled environment for filming outdoor scenes. This means that productions will be able to film outdoor and indoor scenes all on the same lot at Michelson Studios at iPark 84, utilizing both the soundstages and backlot.
With the new soundstages, the Hudson Valley may see even greater retention of film projects that otherwise would have had to find facilities outside of the area to work in.
“People, if they have an idea that they want to build something that”™s 40 feet tall and you have to have a span of 80 feet by 200 feet or whatever it is, the set that they have in mind, the set that is talked about in the script, can”™t be built on something that”™s too low or has columns, or has other difficult things going on with it,” Michelson said.
“I mean, and then they have to go elsewhere. Correct? Right. They”™re not going to change the script. They”™re not going to say, ”˜Let”™s just change everything because we can”™t find the right place.”™ Well, I”™m giving them the right place because everything that I”™m designing will handle 99% of the motion picture needs.”
The location is also strategically placed. Aside from its proximity to New York City, it is also close to Metro-North and Amtrak stations and major highways, including Interstate 84 and Route 9. The Hudson Valley Film Commission also stated that it is only 10 minutes away from 2,500-plus hotel rooms.
The Film Commission recently reported 2021”™s second quarter as its busiest on record since its creation in 2000, with more than 15 projects in the region throughout the quarter. The Hudson Valley has been gaining ground as a production destination in recent years and this progress was furthered by the region”™s accelerated reopening as compared with New York City, driving productions north.
“We”™ve been making introductions and referrals for two decades,” said Laurent Rejto, director of the Hudson Valley Film Commission. “Our goal has always been to create mutually beneficial relationships that will benefit the region with economic development, jobs, cultural and educational opportunities. We”™ve worked closely with many other regional qualified production facilities, including Basilica Hudson, BSP (now closed), One Tomsons Road (now Upriver Studios), Tech City (now closed), and Umbra Newburgh. Upriver and Umbra are both hosting HBO projects, ”˜Pretty Little Liars,”™ and ”˜The White House Plumbers.”™ Ideally, Michelson Studios at iPark84 will bring more film and TV projects to the region.”
Michelson also hopes to bring along some of the uniqueness of Hollywood to East Fishkill through the project.
“What I”™m trying to bring up here is a little bit of the fun, not to make some sort of a FedEx facility, but a real motion picture studio that has the craziness of Hollywood,” he said. “I want to bring it to East Fishkill, this kind of fun stuff that I grew up with.”
