The Kingston Film Office is bringing a recommendation to council on Tuesday asking to allow TV and movie productions to take over Market Square even on days when the farmers’ market is operating.
Kingston is pushing hard to attract more production. City officials say it makes good economic sense, and Market Square is one of the unique filming locations the city has to offer.
But vendors aren’t happy with the move.
Officials have been negotiating with vendors to either relocate them onto a nearby parking lot or pay them cash compensation for lost business.
“Some people just don’t want to move at all, some are more willing, and it’s always a question of compensation,” said Gonzalo Wilson, a co-chair of the vendors’ association. “If there’s adequate compensation, yeah, people consider moving. But we lose business if we move off of this square. We moved to Clarence Street years ago — our business was down 30 percent and we were there for two years.”
WATCH: Kingston opens up a Film office to bring movie and TV productions to the region
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William Henderson, another longtime market square vendor, says it’s going to take a fair bit of time to get things co-ordinated.
“You’ve got things like what time of year are they going to do it, how many days are you going to do it, and the level of disruption to the vendors, not just the market vendors but also your artisans, you’ve got an antique market on Sundays — there’s a whole slew of things that we need to look at.”
WATCH: Trying to bring more movie and TV production to Kingston Pen
Film producers such as Netflix, Warner Brothers and Fox have been scouting locations in the city such as Market Square and Kingston Pen as possible shooting locations. This comes after a record year for TV and film productions in Canada.
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