TV pilot filmed in Troy has upstate premiere Sat. in Saratoga
Premiere party! Free screening and panel discussion of ‘Books’ — and the bar will be open.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — The pilot for Books was simply meant to be filmed in the Capital Region.
The TV show’s creators, Tim Cahill and Kristina Libby, met the folks who would end up getting it made at the Lake Placid Film Festival. During a fateful table read session, some 518 Film Network members sat in the audience, their interest immediately piqued. By the time Cahill and Libby headed home to New York City, they had a plan — and producers.
“That was early November, and by late December, they were shooting in Market Block Books in Troy,’” says 518 Film’s president, Spencer Sherry. “This is what you can get done in the Capitol Region — come on up; we’ll make it happen.”
The pilot — the show hasn’t been picked up just yet — will have its upstate premiere Saturday at a free event at the Holiday Inn at 5:30 p.m., followed by a panel discussion with the creators and scriptwriter, Matt Witten (House, Pretty Little Liars, CSI: Miami, Law & Order), and Sherry moderating. Guests can expect to meet many of the cast and crew, who will be seeing it for the first time, too. “They’re all coming,” Sherry says.
“I was already talking to Ellen [Beal, Book Festival co-chair] about how to get the film network involved in Book Fest this year,” Sherry says. “And she sends me an email from Tim and Christina and is like, ‘Have you heard of this one?’ I said, ‘Yes, I have; I’m in it.’”
(He has a cameo.)
Meant to be…
The sitcom pilot, directed by 518 Film co-founder Micah Khan, tells the story of a canceled author (played by Spencer Grammer, daughter of Frasier star Kelsey Grammer) who buys her deceased father’s bookstore. As a possible nod to her (very much alive) dad, the show has been described as Cheers if it were set in an indie bookstore instead of a bar.
“We’re going to make the hotel’s lounge, Bookmakers, into a hangout bar for the sessions,” Sherry says. “So if you come early, you can hang out at the bar, meet the filmmakers and writers — and then after each session, come back out and we’ll have the book signings there.”
Before Books, join popular authors Nicolas DiDomizio (Nearlywed) and London Sperry (Passion Project). They’ll hit the floor at 4 p.m. for a “Rom Com Happy Hour,” when they’ll spill the tea about writing those juicy beach reads none of us can live without.
Keep reading about this weekend’s Saratoga Book Festival!
New Book Festival party taps into fall’s buzziest new aesthetic
Bela Fleck and Ruth Reichl are 2 of the Book Fest’s hottest tickets (literally)
Storybook magic: Book Fest’s (free!) KidZone claims its own event