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Could ‘Lights, camera, action’ be heard more frequently around WNY?

WBFO-FM 88.7 | By Jim Fink

Published May 22, 2025 at 5:02 PM EDT

‘Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story’ producer Andrew Gernhard and Hallmark Senior Vice President Samantha DiPippo discuss the movie being shot in Buffalo.

It was a stealth visit to Buffalo last December that really cemented Hallmark and producer Andrew Gernhard’s decision to film “Holiday Touchdown” in the region. The community vibe mattered, but so did the pitch and follow-up by the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission’s Tim Clark and handsome tax breaks offered by New York State to have movies shot upstate.

Taken together, all those sealed the deal.

“I mean, the incentives are probably the best in the nation right now. So, I think a production hub is going to come to Upstate New York and New Jersey,” Gernhard said. “So, it's going to be this big spike of productions from everybody.”

And Gernhard said they expect to be back in Buffalo, sooner rather than later to make more movies here.

“The thing about Buffalo is, I can't say it enough, The people are great, the locations are great, the support of films is unbelievable. So, I'm hoping to bring at least two to five movies a year to this area,” Gernhard said.

'Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story' is set to premiere during the Hallmark Channel's 16th annual 'Countdown to Christmas'.

Hallmark’s Senior Vice President of Programming Samantha DiPippo says she is so impressed with all things Buffalo that she will be pitching the region to Hallmark execs to return to the region.

“We really were trying to understand what is so special and unique about Bills Mafia, about this team, and about the city, and I think we really nailed it. They really nailed it, and I think if you are from Buffalo, this movie is for you,” DiPippo said.

Last year, Hallmark produced a similar holiday-themed love story around the Kansas City Chiefs. It turned out to be the network’s top-rated program of the season.

DiPippo thinks the Buffalo movie will top the Chiefs movie in terms of viewers. It will be shown multiple times in December on the Hallmark channel.

Filming is set for various locations in Buffalo, Orchard Park, and East Aurora and continues through June 12. The Buffalo Niagara Film Commission pegs the movie’s local economic impact at $5 million, as a conservative estimate.

Combined, the five films already shot in the region this year have an estimated economic impact of nearly $45 million.