If you were walking past your favorite cafe down on the East End of town near Mt. Beacon and saw that it was called something else, your heart may have skipped a beat as you thought: “Oh no! Not another business moving out!” But this time it’s not another business moving out! It’s a film production coming to town. Dressing the storefronts in costume for the Apple TV+ produced show “Severance.”

According to the Poughkeepie Journal: “Severance" is a drama featuring Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken and SUNY New Paltz graduate John Turturro. Ben Stiller is listed as an executive producer and director of several episodes. According to IMDb.com, the show is scheduled to premiere sometime this year.” As stated on IMDB, the premise is: “Lumen Industries, a company that's looking to take work-life balance to a new level.”

Beacon business owners in the area could not confirm or deny if filming was happening, but for those of us window browsing at night, onlookers were puzzled by the newly named storefronts, and were trying to piece together the mystery. Facebook was of course lighting up with speculation. Couples walking along the sidewalk stopped in front of storefronts to ask each other: “Wait, this vintage piece of furniture looks very similar to that piece of vintage furniture in that storefront over there….What is going on?” A person walking their dog really wanted to go inside of a shop, even though the shop was closed.

Storefronts who seem to be selected to be Main Street stars are Beacon Bath and Bubble, Reservoir, The Vault, 13 Floor Mod, Beacon Realty, Beacon Falls Cafe, La Mère Clothing and Goods, Raven Rose, and possibly others. No one would confirm, however, as they alluded to agreements that required disgression.

The boutique, for instance, that is normally called La Mère Clothing and Goods is now called The Midcentenarian. A Little Beacon Blog knows that owner April has not moved her business, as La Mère is an advertiser with A Little Beacon Blog, and we have a shopping date coming up!

Photo Credits: Ruby Martin, a 10 year old photojournalist, taken during a Remote Learning day.

A Little Beacon Blog reached out to the City of Beacon for confirmation that film permits had been granted and paid to the City, however, City Administrator Chris White reminded us (me) that we are not on speaking terms based on last week’s employment articles that had racist undertones, and would not answer any questions.

A white Haddad truck, which is usually a sign of a big movie production nearby. Photo Credit: Ruby Martin — A white Haddad truck, which is usually a sign of a big movie production nearby.
*Photo Credit: Ruby Martin*

Thankfully, a Citizen Reporter called in to the Mayor’s Office, and received confirmation that the production is “Severance,” a production from Apple TV+, and will be filming on Monday and Tuesday. Set dressers have visited storefronts who will be in the scene. April of Le Mere’s shop employee called her to suggest she might want to come in to see the new items in the store, after many antiques were deposited into the store. April had been tending to her three children and mother.

“My employee Facetimed me the situation, and I came in right away. You know me - the store has to be perfect, and all of these antiques were here in the front of the store.” We do know April quite well over the years, and could see that she was twitching. The evening we encountered her, she was pulling a late-nighter in order to make her shop presentable to the public in order for them to shop the weekend before the Monday shoot.

Courtney of Raven Rose says she is a huge fan of Adam Scott, and told A Little Beacon Blog she is very happy that the East End of town is getting this filming action.

The City of Beacon issued a robo-call on Friday evening, listing what street closures would be happening (see below for the street closure list). The City’s robo-call did not mention the film production or the purpose for the street closures. The coordination of rolling street closures may be due to the parking of large film production trucks from Haddad’s, a truck rental company that is used for several union productions in New York City and elsewhere, as well as camera positions for different takes of the scenes.

What We Know About The Scene Being Filmed

Earlier reporting from the Poughkeepsie Journal revealed that scouts had visited Beacon Bread Company and Hudson Valley Food Hall earlier in February 2021, which are storefronts on the other end of town.

We know that the producers are keeping this production very hush hush, that it is episodic, and may have a “futuristic mind-bending” kind of twist to its storyline. However, the set dressing of Beacon’s storefront windows for this upcoming week are set back in time. This particular scene may only be one minute in the episode.

Excellent reporting from Geoffrey WIlson in the Poughkeepsie Journal revealed that the production is currently going under a different name, “Tumwater," which is common in the early stages of filming in order to not attract attention. According to the article, some residents had received a letter from the Location Department: “The Location Department for ‘Severance’ listed 'Tumwater"‘ as the project's working title in its letter to Beacon residents.'“ The article went on to say: “Laurent Rejto, director of the Hudson Valley Film Commission, confirmed that a project titled "Tumwater" is starting filming in the City of Kingston Wednesday, and that project was filming at the Rondout Friday.”

According to the resident letter, the production will be filming in Beacon late into the night, with cameras positioned on the rooftop of the 1 East Main Street building in order to take night shots of a couple walking on Main Street down below. 1 East Main houses lofts, Lambs Hill Bridal, Urban Links Design, and Trax Coffee.

According to locals on the ground, the scene filmed on Monday and Tuesday will be a “walk-and-talk.” According to an anonymous source, the “script is awesome” and may have “a futuristic, mind-bending” element to it. Which is interesting, since the storefronts in Beacon are currently set decorated to have a much older look from the past.

Photo Credit: Charlie Martin

Street Closures:

Sometimes during a big production, there are members of the film crew called Production Assistants (PAs) who will close a street or sidewalk, and tell you to not cross the street just now. We do not know if there will be PAs closing the streets, or if Beacon Police officers will be closing the streets.

For those interested in the City’s income on this, usually when Police Officers are used to close the streets and direct traffic for film jobs, they are paid by the production company. Usaully the officers used are off-duty, so an Overtime Rate is paid. Additionally, the City is paid a day-rate for a union-produced show permit. A Little Beacon Blog reached out to the City of Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White to inquire as to the game-plan and income stream, but he did not respond.

If you, Citizen Reporter, get the answer on what was paid to Beacon, let us know! We are also inquiring via our other sources re the details of the City’s contract.

According to the City of Beacon’s robo-call, parking and street closures will be impacted as follows:

The following streets will be closed and parking will not be allowed on Monday, March 15th from 3pm - 7am Tuesday morning. And from Tuesday March 16th from 3pm - 7am Wednesday morning.

Municipal Parking Lot on Churchill Street
North Street from Main Street to Locust Place
South Street from Main Street to Locust Place
Leonard Street from Amity Street to East Main Street
Verplanck Avenue from Davis Street to Main Street
Churchill Street from Main Street to Spring Valley Street where there will be local traffic only

On Monday March 15th there will be rolling closures, and parking will be allowed on the following streets:

Russell Avenue
Spring Street
Locust Place
Falconer Street
Boyce Street
Grove Street
Liberty Street

On Monday, March 15th from 3pm - 7am Main Street from Tioronda Avenue to Ackerman Street will be closed and parking will not be allowed.

On Tuesday, March 16th from 3pm- 7am Main Street from Teller Avenue to Ackerman Street will be closed and parking will not be allowed.

Have fun, everyone! High fives to the participating businesses.