Luring Hollywood to Yonkers: Sprawling studio campus to house Robert Halmi Senior Film and Television Academy

Hallmark Channel founder and film industry legend Robert Halmi broke the news in an exclusive interview with our senior reporter Tara Rosenblum during a tour of Lionsgate Studios in Yonkers.

Lee Danuff and Tara Rosenblum

Mar 19, 2024, 1:09 PM

Updated 263 days ago

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One of the largest modern-built film production campuses in the northeast will soon house one of the most cutting-edge magnet schools in the nation.
News 12’s senior reporter Tara Rosenblum spoke to film industry titan and the founder of Great Point Studios Robert Halmi inside the massive Lionsgate Studios in Yonkers.
Once the site of the old Otis Elevator Factory and built at the turn of the last century, the sprawling property is now owned and managed by Great Point Studios. It is home to the iconic motion picture studio Lionsgate Studios, which is behind blockbuster franchises the like “The Hunger Games” and “The Twilight Saga.”
“We’re building this to lure Hollywood to Yonkers,” says Halmi. “I think Yonkers, the location, really is the great selling point.”
The still expanding production campus includes over 1 million square feet of studio and production space – and will soon have a state-of-the-art media and production magnet school.
It is expected to start this fall and will have about 500 public school students in grades 6-12.
“I'm delighted the name of the school will be the Robert Halmi Sr. Film and Television Academy,” says Halmi. “I worked for my father for a little over 40 years and together, I watched him make incredible literature come to life on television. ‘Gulliver's Travels,’ ‘Moby Dick,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera.’ I'm just very proud.”
Halmi says the school is going to be right in the middle of campus and will expose the students to real productions while they are in school.
The students will also have a chance to earn an associate degree.
“And they'll go right to work. So, they'll be work ready at 18 into the union. So, they'll have incredible opportunities because it's just a fast growing, amazing industry with lots of jobs,” says Halmi.
Halmi’s goal now? Turning Yonkers into one of the leading film and TV destinations in America.
“I think by this time next year, we will be the No. 1 destination in the northeast,” he says.