BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

MASSENA – Village trustees adopted a new law requiring filming permits for movie makers who come to Massena.

They passed the measure at their Tuesday, May 18 monthly village board meeting.

“This is for commercial enterprises, groups of three or more or a crew size three or more,” said Deputy Mayor Matt Lebire. “We’re not talking about the person out there doing this for fun or hobby.”

The law also exempts news media.

Massena filmmaker Elijah Winfrey spoke before the bill passed and said he thinks it’s a good thing for both the town and moviemakers.

“I can say this permit strikes a perfect balance while being reasonable toward filmmakers while protecting Massena’s assets,” he said.

Winfrey, who recently filmed “The Ballad of Billy Badass” on location in and around Massena, said he had incidents where he was “interrupted by police or bystanders who were worried about my ‘suspicious activity.’”

“I’d always end up thinking to myself: I wish there was a process to let those who need to know, know what’s going on,” he said.

Winfrey worked with Massena Fire Department Foreman Aaron Hardy to draft the code.

“This process to get to tonight’s hearing started in January of last year,” he said. “This was not a quickly thrown together thing. This was thought through thoroughly.”

Massena’s sportfishing promoter Don Meissner also spoke in favor of the film code.

“I support this tremendously,” he said. “I felt Massena represents an area that’s so unique ... this is about bringing people to Massena for whatever reason to discover all the possibilities that exist here.”

Dr. Linda McQuinn, who works closely with Meissner, said she also supports it.

“This endeavor will carry the village and the town of Massena forward. To do it in the right way, the permit is needed because you want to protect the community in the event something unfortunate might occur,” she said.