WESTON, Mo. — One of the region’s most historic river towns is getting the Hollywood treatment this month.
Mapelle Films, a Kansas City-based film production company, chose Weston for a new Christmas movie with the working title “Christmas on Display.”
It’s not just beginning to look a lot like Christmas on Main Street. It’s looked like the holiday season here since last week!
“They have snow machines, so we even did a caroling shot a couple nights ago,” said Laura Landon, owner of Weston Coffee and Roastery. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
Landon said the vast production crew has also been a real boon for small businesses, many of which just recently reopened.
“We’ve kind of been spreading around the meals and letting each restaurant here in town help create meals for them, so the revenue into the town is really welcomed,” Landon said.
The movie will likely find a home on either Amazon, Netflix or the Hallmark Channel.
“It’s definitely written for that market,” said Stephen Brock with Mapelle Films. “It’s written very strategically. It’s casted very strategically. The plot points are very strategic to kind of fit that demographic.”
Brock said making August look like December isn’t much of a trick, but making movies during the coronavirus pandemic has presented challenges.
“Our audio technicians have kind of a special routine where they sanitize the lapel mics, between takes, using booms as often as we can,” he said. “And the actors are only taking off their face mask when they’re ready to go on scene.”
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