entertainment Area's rebirth? Show makes a case

Sheila Livadas//May 25, 2007//

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What sums up Rochester’s essence? Is it the scent of blooming lilacs? A bite of a white hot? A cruise down the Erie Canal?
Blue Sky Media Inc., a Florida-based producer of regional magazine-style shows, presents its top picks in “The Best of Rochester,” airing 10 a.m. Sundays, from June 17 to Sept. 16, on WHEC-TV 10.
Billed as a fast-paced roundup of the area’s gems, the hour-long program features shops, restaurants, landmarks and arts-and-leisure activities. The format resembles what the firm used in a prior program about Florida and will use in an upcoming program about Santa Fe, N.M.
“What’s interesting about this market is that there’s facade to shoot,” explains Sam Taylor, whose Trend Hospitality Development Inc. is co-producing the show. “The last show we did was Naples, Fla.; it’s strip malls and asphalt. Here, we have beauty.”
Some of the program?s highlights-such as the George Eastman House, the Liberty Pole, Arena’s Florist and Don’s Original in Sea Breeze-resonate instantly. Other segments profile relative newcomers, like the House of Sushi in the East End and Breathe Yoga in Pittsford.
The program also features themed portions, ranging from the daytrip-oriented “Worth the Drive” to “Fine Living,” with local contractors discussing custom-home building.
The area’s wealth of health and human service resources gets airtime as well. Among the more prominent profiles is Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong, which is slated to receive proceeds from the show’s DVD sales.
Though location shoots can be hit-or-miss for filmmakers lacking the deep pockets of big studios, Taylor drew confidence from his firsthand knowledge of the area.
“I grew up going to the Rochester Public Market on Saturday mornings and Malek’s Bakery on Sundays,” says Taylor, a lifelong area resident who began splitting his time between here and Florida 18 months ago.
Taylor credits his family-in particular his late grandmother, former New York Assemblywoman Pinny Cooke-with cultivating his appreciation for Rochester.
“My grandmother, Pinny, and grandfather, Hank, would drag me to all sorts of events,” he says. “A lot of them were at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.”
An affection for small, locally owned businesses also spurred him on during filming.
“There’s this whole effort toward economic development going on. I felt that stuff is being done for the big guys in trying to promote large corporate growth in Rochester. But there isn’t a lot of attention being put on independent businesses and the smaller guys. So I thought it was a perfect opportunity,” he says.
Besides entertaining viewers, Taylor hopes showcasing where to eat, shop and play will boost civic pride.
“There needs to be a reason to bring your family to Rochester, and there also needs to be a reason for Rochesterians to be excited about being here,” he says.
With an abundance of subjects to cover, Taylor soon lost track of how many hours filming consumed.
“I don’t think I could even count,” he says, chuckling.
Rochester’s livability is finally starting to get the recognition it deserves, he adds. To illustrate his point, he cites the city’s sixth-place ranking among 379 metropolitan areas in this year?s edition of “Places Rated Almanac.”
Once he got a look at Rochester, Blue Sky owner Adiel Eshkenazi needed little convincing that the project should proceed.
“When I first started with this project, I didn’t quite know what I was getting into, other than I had a very good partner who had a strong affinity to this area,” says Eshkenazi, a New York City native and Ithaca College alum.
“There’s a local feeling, and there’s an established feeling (here). And there are people here that want to see this place do well.”
Eshkenazi adds that he had a large pool of qualified film professionals to choose from when filling 12 crew positions.
“Here I’m working with some really good film talent-people who are filmmakers,” he says. “And that’s something that?s creatively contributing to the show itself.”
June Foster, executive director of Rochester/Finger Lakes Film & Video Office Inc., says more small firms like Blue Sky are discovering the benefits of filming here. Her office estimates that local filming-including videos, commercials, independent features and other projects-had an $11 million economic impact last year.
“It’s become known as a very important secondary hub for independent filmmaking,” says Foster, whose office has not been involved in Blue Sky’s program. “The film business here is very much alive and well.”
Because shooting costs here are low, filmmakers enjoy the advantage of letting their work unfold naturally, Foster says. “Besides being a beautiful place, the pace is lovely.”
“We have a great crew base here,” she adds. “It’s larger than Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany and Saratoga’s combined.”
Impressed with what the area offers, Eshkenazi says he’ll consider producing a second “Best of Rochester.”
“I feel there’s a rebirth here, from what I’m seeing and what I?m reading,” he says. “This is my second time up here now, and I just get a really good feeling.”
-Sheila Livadas