SCRANTON, Pa. — Bob Savakinus runs Cannon Fire Productions and has been a part of several movies and documentaries in northeastern Pennsylvania. Savakinus proposed an idea to the Lackawanna County commissioners to create a film commission to encourage more productions to be shot in the county.
"This film commission gives us that opportunity to get the word out there to Los Angeles and Florida and New York City and everything, your major film markets, to say we have talent, we have locations, we have everything you could ask for to come here," said Savakinus.
"Filmmakers, when they come to the area, they're looking for a point of contact, which currently really doesn't exist. So, the film commission will be someplace that these filmmakers can go to with questions, any help that they need to coordinate different things," said Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan.
There have been several movies shot in and around Lackawanna County over the years, but one flopped project got bad reviews from county residents. The county suffered a loss when it invested $500,000 into "The Trouble with Cali," produced by Paul Sorvino. The commissioners vow that won't happen this time.
"We're not investing any county dollars into this commission whatsoever. So, there's no financial commitment," said Gaughan.
Officials believe having film productions in Lackawanna County will be good for the economy and keep people here who aspire to work in movies and television.
"They have to go to Philly, New York, Allentown even, and that's one of the goals of this film commission will be to say let's centralize it and be able to make movies here in northeastern Pennsylvania," said Savakinus, who also shared news about an upcoming project he helped bring to Lackawanna County.
"Some Florida filmmakers are coming to this area to do this movie called 'Bitter Souls,' and they will be filming in Lackawanna County, a little bit of Luzerne County, and they're going to start filming in June," Savakinus said.
The commissioners still have to make an official vote on forming the commission in a few weeks.