About Film Chautauqua NY
Built for Production. Rooted in Place.
Film Chautauqua NY (Film CHQ NY) is a regional film initiative designed to help film and television productions discover, navigate, and establish themselves within Chautauqua County and the surrounding Western New York region.
We connect productions to locations, infrastructure, local knowledge, and regional relationships that help projects move more efficiently from early development through production and post.
Our goal is simple:
Make production here easier, faster, leaner, and more connected.
Film Chautauqua NY serves as a bridge between filmmakers and the region — helping productions identify cinematic locations, coordinate scouts, navigate logistics, connect with local stakeholders, and uncover opportunities that may otherwise remain invisible to outside teams.
From historic downtowns and industrial environments to waterfronts, forests, rural corridors, schools, churches, and period architecture, Chautauqua County offers extraordinary visual range within a highly production-friendly footprint.
One Region. Unlimited Looks. Production-Friendly by Design.
Whether you are searching for a single unforgettable location or building a long-term production footprint, Film Chautauqua NY is designed to help productions see more, move smarter, and create boldly in Western New York.
We help productions:
Discover unique and cinematic locations
Coordinate scouts and regional introductions
Connect with municipalities, businesses, and property owners
Navigate production opportunities within Western New York
Identify crew, infrastructure, and support resources
Connect to Chautauqua County’s exceptional 40-50% production incentive through our Empire State experts in the program office.
Establish a smoother landing for long-term or returning productions
Film Chautauqua NY is also part of a broader vision: to grow sustainable film and television production throughout the region by building stronger relationships between the entertainment industry and local communities, workforce, infrastructure, and future investment.
Founder & Executive Director
Karen Somers
Karen Somers is a Los Angeles–based director, producer, and DP who has filmed around the world for major studios, networks, and productions of every scale. She also spends much of the year in Chautauqua County producing projects throughout the East Coast, including co-producing a Netflix special in Jamestown, New York.
As a filmmaker, Karen understands the realities of production — speed, budgets, logistics, crew needs, and the constant pressure to do more with less. What she recognized in Chautauqua County was extraordinary: one of the most competitive film incentives in the country paired with an enormous range of cinematic, largely un-shot locations.
Film Chautauqua NY was created by a filmmaker for filmmakers — to help productions move faster, scout smarter, connect locally, and discover the incredible production value this region offers.
Because once you combine an astonishing 40–50% tax incentive with unlimited looks and a truly film-friendly region… it becomes very hard to want to shoot anywhere else.
Coordinator
Gianna Lopez
Gianna is a Buffalo-based freelance filmmaker specializing in production design, with a background in photography, communications and marketing. Her approach to production design centers on understanding how environments shape narrative - from overall tone to the smallest visual details that put both actors and viewers right into the story’s world.
She is drawn to the cinematic potential of the Chautauqua region and how its distinctive landscapes and spaces can be adapted for a range of stories and time periods . With Karen, she identifies and documents locations throughout Chautauqua and coordinates all aspects of the Film Chautauqua NY database.
