(WKYT) – Another Christmas movie is being filmed in downtown Paris. The last one was filmed downtown in April.
The movie filmed Monday is called “The Greatest Christmas Gift of All.”
Downtown transformed for filming
The production crew had Main Street blocked at Eighth Street. On a hot, sunny day in late August, downtown Paris was made to look like late December, with snow and Christmas decorations placed throughout.
The movie features Matthew Marsden and Danica McKellar.
“I love shooting in Paris, Kentucky, been a wonderful experience, the Main Street we’ve been shooting on is just darling and it looks like one of those perfect little towns that we like on Great American Family,” McKellar said.
The actors play an engaged couple preparing for a Christmas wedding when an unexpected setback threatens their future. As Christmas time draws near, their small town rallies around them.
“The story is loosely based on the Gift of the Magi but it’s really about community coming together,” McKellar said.
Production spending benefits local businesses
Mary Quinn Ramer, president of VisitLex, said the production crew is spending money in town.
“Also in the way they spend dollars, eating lunch, grabbing supplies from a local store, it’s an opportunity for that dollar to be invested many times over,” Ramer said.
Aaron Snyder, who operates Bourbon County Confectionary, said one of the producers bought ice cream for the entire crew.
“I think it was great on Friday, I mean I did about 60 ice cream cones roughly in about 30 minutes, I’m a small business, it helped my business quite a bit,” Snyder said.
Chris Haley’s Oasis Special Events venue was used as a spot for extras and actors to change outfits. The previous Christmas movie production crew used the same venue to shoot a scene in April.
“Just so many incredible people that we’ve met along the way and as I mentioned the excitement in this town right now is second to none,” Haley said.
Betty Ann Allen, tourism director for Paris and Bourbon County, said two films are currently being shot back to back.
“Right now we’ve got two being filmed back to back and we are looking forward to having two more being filmed in Paris and Bourbon County this fall,” Allen said.
Tax incentives draw filmmakers
The commonwealth offers a 30% incentive for filmmakers to shoot in Kentucky, and Paris offers another 5% on top of that. A total of five films will be shot in the area in six months.
“We have our fingers crossed that we can attract more and more movies,” Allen said.
“The Greatest Christmas Gift of All” can be seen Nov. 29 on the Great American Family network.