Christmastime movie being shot in Glasgow

BY MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
GLASGOW NEWS 1
Instead of Christmas in July, Glasgow is going to see a bit of Christmas in May – for a movie set.
“There’s a lot of buzz about this community,” Mayor Henry Royse said in introducing MacLean Lessenberry, executive director for the Glasgow-Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission at Monday’s regular city council meeting. “And I feel like it’s really fitting that we hear from our tourism director. Everybody’s heard there’s a movie or two that might be being shot here, and there’s all types of, I guess, rumors about what is and isn’t and this and that, and I felt like the council members and those in our audience tonight should hear the full-blown story of the movies that are being filmed in our community pretty much as we speak.”
Lessenberry said that the movie that started filming Monday in the area is the follow-up to a movie that aired on BET last year, “and this one’s called “A Royal Christmas Surprise,” so it’s a holiday movie.”
“Because of that,” she continued, “I know there are going to be a lot of questions about this. The square – two sides of the square will be decorated for the holidays.”
Tentatively, that will happen the second week of May, she said, but she added later that this movie is scheduled to be finished shooting here on May 10.
“This is really exciting. This is the second time this production company has been here. They were here in October as well,” Lessenberry said. “And if you haven’t seen that trailer that was officially released for that film, it’s on all our social media and will be on our website eventually, too.”
She said the movie is centered around a small town, and at this point the plan is to have the name of Glasgow in as the actual location.
She said anyone interested in being an extra in the movie should follow the tourism commission’s social media and/or that of the Southern Kentucky Film Commission, but no one should send in resumes or head shots at this point.
Royse said it was his understanding that it was the north and east sides of the square that would be decorated – the ones where the Barren County Government Center and Glasgow City Hall are.
Lessenberry said that’s correct, tentatively. She said that two days after this movie concludes shooting, a children’s movie – “Kangaroo Kids” — that had been previously announced is supposed to start filming here May 12 and continue for roughly a week. That one is also shooting some in Hart County, she siad.
Lessenberry had earlier explained about how the commonwealth’s entertainment incentive works to encourage productions of commercials, TV shows, documentaries and motion pictures to come to Kentucky. The incentive is a 30 to 35 percent reimbursement opportunities for production companies, she said.
The local tourism commission is one of nine in the area that is part of the Southern Kentucky Film Commission. They collaborate to promote that incentive and filming in this area. She said they work a lot behind the scenes to help with scouting, reading scripts, and, if the project comes to fruition, serving as the community liaison.
“When they do, it’s great PR for us, and it’s a really, really big economic impact,” Lessenberry said. “Any of these projects that are filmed here are going to spend about 40 percent of their overall budget here.”