Ohio is a great place for independent filmmakers to shoot films. In the 1980s, a bevy of filmmakers, from student to independent and even some big studio productions, chose to shoot their films, in part or entirely, in the Buckeye State. Currently, Ohio landscapes and welcoming cities still provide a go-to destination for filmmakers. Today, the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit (OMPTC) provides a refundable, tax credit of 30 percent on production cast and crew wages plus other eligible in-state spending. OMPTC was created in 2009 to encourage and develop a film industry in Ohio.
Over the years, Toledo has been competing with bigger Ohio cities, like Cleveland, Dayton and Cincinnati, for cinematic attention.
Recent Filmmaking in Toledo
The independent film scene in Toledo is taking off in large part because of Michael DeSanto who created FilmToledo, an organization to bring more filmmaking to our area, along with young filmmakers like Anthony Wright (Ride to Nowhere) and Johnny Antonini (The Lifeguards). Sylvania’s Plummer’s Pool and Mayberry Diner are featured in Antonini’s summertime coming-of-age movie. Ride to Nowhere filmmaker Wright featured The Basement: Toledo’s Pinball Club, Oak Openings and Howard’s Bar in Bowling Green.
Hollywood came to Toledo in 2022 with A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks, set in Toledo’s own Central Union Terminal train station. Recently, Hollywood Casino in Toledo was used for a week of location shooting by 20th Century Studios for a big budget, feature film— yet unnamed. And last August native Toledoan Tom Meyers wrapped shooting on The Toast (now in post-production), a wedding comedy starring Jon Lovitz, with the primary scenes at The Toledo Club.
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2025 should bring us more of Toledo in the movies and more Toledo filmmakers honing their skills and showing their creative film efforts locally and nationally. Watch for them!
Notable films with ties to other parts of Ohio
Stranger than Paradise – 1984, Jim Jarmusch, native of Akron, is considered the father of the 80s wave of independent film. Stranger than Paradise includes a road trip taken by the three main characters from New York to Cleveland where they couch surf at a family member’s house, hang out at the movies and ponder life while over-looking the frigid Lake Erie waterfront just before the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was built.. The film won the Camera d’Or Award for best debut film.
A Christmas Story – 1983. Bob Clark, a Canadian director, made the film under Canada’s tax shelter program, with some pivotal shopping scenes shot in Cleveland. Although the name of the store was changed in the film, interior and exterior scenes are set in Cleveland’s iconic and now closed Higbee’s Department Store.
Fresh Horses — 1988, David Anspaugh directed this Molly Ringwald/Andrew McCarthy follow-up to Pretty in Pink, using the same two leads in hopes of extending the box office magic. While Fresh Horses didn’t hit a home-run, it was filmed entirely in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. The scenery in the 1988 film seemed to be what filmgoers liked about this film as The University of Cincinnati and Kings Island are featured.
Indie horror, Ohio style
At least three cult horror films were made in Ohio in the 70s and 80s. Deadbeat at Dawn (1989), an action film with a horror and punk aesthetic, about gangs in Dayton, has become a cult favorite and recently got a blu ray release from Arrow Video.
Beyond Dream’s Door (1989) is an experimental low-budget horror film in the Nightmare on Elm Street vein. Made through OSU’s film program, it was shot entirely on location in Columbus with local actors. The movie got a release through Vinegar Syndrome on disc and was featured on the streaming service Shudder.
In Homebodies (1974), six elderly people living in a condemned small tenement building resort to anything to avoid relocating, including murder. Shot entirely on location in Cincinnati, director Larry Yust combines social commentary, horror and comedy with a darkly funny but incredibly empathetic script. Homebodies played regularly on movie channels in the 1980s and is available on blu ray through Kino Lorber.
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On location in Sandusky!
Director, writer, producer Todd Stephens hails from Sandusky and chose his hometown as the setting for several of his films including Edge of Seventeen (1998), and, more recently, Swan Song (2021). Cedar Point, where the director worked as a teenager, was featured in Edge of Seventeen. Udo Kier, a legendary star of international cinema working with Lars Von Trier, Werner Herzog and Andy Warhol, spent months in an assisted living facility in Sandusky to prepare for his role in Swan Song. Keir plays retired hairdresser Pat Pitsenbarger, once renowned as the ‘Liberace of Sandusky’, who takes a long walk to style his former client’s hair for her funeral.
