The Catskills

From the 1950’s through to 1970’s the Catskills were a favourite holiday destination of working and middle class New Yorkers. Back then the region was best known for its Borscht Belt comedy shows, Jewish summer camps, night swims, and Saturday night dances like in the film Dirty Dancing. The region had hundreds of hotels and thousands of bungalow colonies where guests would visit throughout the year. Fast forward to current day and many of the decaying, once-glorious resorts are now gone but those that remained are being renovated to a new glory. The region is experiencing a renaissance of young New York City creatives, forced out by high rents in the city, setting up base camp in the Catskills.

Locations of particular interest to visiting filmmakers and photographers include forested mountains, fly-fishing rivers, ponds and lakes, waterfalls (Kaaterskills falls are the highest waterfalls in the state), ice caves, caverns, rocky cliffs, golf resorts, hiking trails, snow skiing resorts, sustainable small farming cooperatives, farmers markets, breweries, and small towns such as Woodstock and Callicoon.

The area has a four-season climate with flowers in full bloom in the spring, hot and humid summers with long daylight hours, colourful leaves in the fall, and cold snow-covered winters.

The Catskills lie in southeastern New York State, a 3 hour drive (more with heavy traffic) from New York City, where most film crew and equipment need to come from.

Film-friendly accommodation options of note include Scribner’s Lodge, The Arnold House, and Deer Mountain Inn. Grab lunch at the Phoenicia Diner.

Catskills Content Producers & Shooting Crew

If you are a brand, media company, ad agency or production company looking for New York based content producers or shooting crew including directors, DP’s, videographers, cameramen, photographers, contact us and we will get back with a shortlist of options that meet your shoot’s specific needs.