Since 2000, the Hudson Valley Film Commission has had the pleasure of working with hundreds of Film & TV location scouts and managers; many of whom have returned to the region time and time again over the years. We still keep in touch with some of the personnel that worked on early iconic Mid Hudson Valley productions, including Nobody’s Fool and War Of The Worlds.
In 2018-19, we had the pleasure of working with HBO’s I Know This Much Is True, and different departments including production management, background casting, and the locations department which was managed by seasoned professional Stephen Grivno. In 2021, Stephen was back with another HBO series; White House Plumbers.
The five-part limited series was filmed in 2021, primarily in Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Sullivan and Ulster Counties. Location highlights that were filmed locally included private homes, courtrooms including the Senate Watergate Hearings setting, a Miami Restaurant, the attorney general’s office, diners, a prison, Cuba, as well as airplane sets, halls of Congress and other miscellaneous interiors that were built at Umbra of Newburgh.
Filming took place in Albany, Westchester, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. Specific local towns and cities included Albany, Beacon, Dover Plains, Garrison, Hurley, Kingston, Millbrook, Monticello, Newburgh, New Rochelle, Orangeburg, Pomona, Poughkeepsie, Purchase, Rhinebeck, Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, White Plains and West Park.
We recently reached out to Stephen regarding the work that he and his team did on the series. New episodes premiere Mondays at 9pm throughout May on MAX. Here’s a few questions we asked…
HVFC: Your work on Derek Cianfrance's I Know This Much Is True included many remarkable Mid Hudson Valley locations that helped the series span six decades. How did spending over a year on that show based out of Poughkeepsie give you a head start for White House Plumbers?
GRIVNO: It was a huge head start just understanding the lay of the land in general, types of architecture, socio economics, and just a great backlog of location photos on file.
HVFC: We received initial information in October of 2020 for Federal-type interiors, courts, opulent dining rooms, and vintage offices. Can you give us a few highlights regarding locations in Dutchess, Putnam, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties that were used for White House Plumbers?
GRIVNO: Some highlights that surprised me are the Dutchess County Office Building in the City of Poughkeepsie and their City Hall. We were scouting for specific mid century looks that usually end up being municipal buildings that have not undergone lots of renovation through the years. We had to go to Westchester for a few locations as they just have larger scale buildings in places like White Plains and a few corporate complexes for hour-or-less commutes to NYC. And of course some massive government buildings in Albany were too tempting to pass up.
Another great location! we filmed at was St Josephs – an old estate in Garrison that is now a School that works with orphans. They are doing good things there. We filmed the Attorney Generals Office scene there, which might be one of the funniest scenes in the series. It is just below Boscobel Gardens, where we did base camp and crew parking.
HVFC: How did you end up renting property from the City of Poughkeepsie for offices and courtrooms?
GRIVNO: We had a great time in the City of Poughkeepsie on IKTMIT. They were very amenable to production requests and schedules so we tried to find as many locations there as possible. In the end we got lucky because they had the best-looking locations for the scene as well.
HVFC: I remember recommending the Karpeles Manuscript Museum in Newburgh mostly because of its marble opulence. What scenes were filmed there?
GRIVNO: We filmed the US Senate hearings at the Karpeles. It was a perfect location for that. Luckily they were amenable to us completely emptying the museum, which is now part of Umbra of Newburgh.
HVFC: We were thrilled to add Cuba to our list of locations that have been filmed in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Who suggested filming the Bay of Pigs invasion at Kingston Point Beach?
GRIVNO: Well, it was the only beach we were aware of, so it kind of had to be there. Luckily it worked! And since it was a flashback scene that was kind of surreal and would have a lot of special photography and visual effects, the foreground scenery we were able to work with was enough to build the rest onto.
HVFC: The HBO podcast talks about how the search for Howard Hunt’s home led you back to Poughkeepsie. We don’t disclose private home locations but can you talk about that location and also G. Gordon Liddy’s home in the Beacon area?
GRIVNO: I found the Hunt House on the first day of scouting, mostly based on my instincts of where mid century modern clusters of residential homes might be. Luckily the house was a winner. I don't think there was a close backup, and honestly there are not a ton of film-friendly mid century modern homes in the Hudson Valley that I am aware of. Even when we started prepping the show in the NYC Zone we struggled to find great options. The Poughkeepsie house blew our best NYC area options out of the water.
HVFC: The White House Plumbers T-SHIRT that was created to commemorate towns that were used in the region is an incredible ‘gemstone.' Who came up with that great memento?
GRIVNO: A couple of my assistant location managers generated that one. One of them bought this vintage poster of Nixon that we thought was funny, which was on the front of the shirt. And on the back we wanted to shout out all the locations we used in the theme of the Gemstones Pitch that Hunt and Liddy give during Episode 2.
HVFC: It was a pleasure to see that you were working on Severance back in March. Do you have any other potential projects that might film in the region? If you have any other thoughts about working in the Mid-Hudson Valley, please do share.
GRIVNO: It is so cool that Severance has been drawn to the Hudson! Same with Pretty Little Liars and Poker Face.
HVFC: Do you have any general thoughts about filming in the region?
GRIVNO: My general thoughts about filming in the Hudson Valley are that you can find a surprising amount of disparate locations there. White House Plumbers really pushed the envelope for me and honestly surprised me with how well everything turned out. The people are nice and generally receptive to production. The food and drinks are good. There is no traffic. And the Hudson Valley is quite beautiful. Winters can be rough though!
Stephen Grivno is a member of the directors guild (DGA). As a location manager and scout, he has worked on many Film & TV projects including The Peripheral, Y: The Last Man. I Know This Much Is True, Marriage Story, Shaft, Mapplethorpe, Wonder, The Meyerowitz Stories and more.
The Hudson Valley Film Commission is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that works to engage, support and promote regional Film & TV productions. As we start our 24 YEAR, we will continue recommending thousands of locations, local crew members, actors, background, and vendors. We also recommend qualified production facilities (many of which we helped certify), post production houses and much more.
The Hudson Valley Film Commission is supported in part by:
Dutchess Tourism Inc (DTI) brings tourism dollars to area businesses by marketing and promoting the assets of Dutchess County to the nation and the world.
Markertek.com – An industry leader in audio and video, Markertek carries a full complement of camera accessories, lighting gear, cables, expendables and more for all levels of film production.
120dB Films – Since 2004, 120dB Films has helped independent film and TV creators bring their projects to the screen by providing production loans and executive producer services to help filmmakers get their projects financed and finished.
The Wood Dock Foundation, Motion Picture Studio Mechanics Local 52, and private support.