COOP Announces It’s Open

To Promote Filmmaking Here

COOPERSTOWN – COOP announced today it is open for business.

The Cooperstown, Oneonta, Otsego County Film Partnership, Inc., known as Film COOP, will represent Cooperstown, Oneonta and all Otsego County communities to the entertainment industry.

Otsego County, and its greater region, is one of the few areas of the state not benefiting from the boom in television and film production that has taken place in Upstate New York, according to COOP Board President Greg Klein of Cooperstown.

The establishment of the film commission office is the first step to attract individual film and television production business, leading ultimately to building a new industry in the region, he said.

“We live in a beautiful, scenically diverse area and using locations here will bring new excitement and color to film and television screens,” said Klein. “Bringing the film production industry to Otsego County will eventually bring millions, maybe even hundreds of millions of dollars, to the area.”

The film commission was started with a grant from Cooperstown’s C.J. Heilig Foundation. The film commission office is a 501c(6) nonprofit trade organization with funding coming from donations, fundraising events, grants and, eventually, a partnership model with film-industry businesses.

Otsego County, the village of Cooperstown and the city of Oneonta have all named Film COOP as their official film commission office.

“We’re excited to officially begin work, and a big part of that is outreach to the residents, businesses and leaders of Otsego County,” Klein said. “We’ll be having a lot of conversations about what the industry can do for Otsego County and what Otsego County can do for the industry.”

A website for the new office is available at www.film-coop.com. For more information, contact Klein at 818-255-8397 or email him at greg@film-coop.com.