Full Circle with Michelle Buteau: A Love Letter to NYC Film Shoots
By Shell Martinez
In the early days of Shell’s Loft—back when I still lived inside my business (literally, on the first floor) one of our very first shoots was for Michelle Buteau’s comedy series, Flashback Friday on VH1. She was, of course, hilarious, stunning, and the most gracious inhabitant of our original Clinton Hill Lofts. Her production crew was equally cool, returning often to shoot with us.
Flash forward a decade or so, and here we are again hosting Michelle Buteau for Season 2 of her Netflix show Survival of the Thickest, a serious upgrade from the previous shoots we hosted. Michelle is now a bona fide movie star and comedy powerhouse.
My own (slightly less public, but equally hard-won) upgrade. Transforming two more daylight film studios before landing in our Fort Greene space where we built Shell’s Loft from the ground up—a modern, afro-minimalist, biophilic film studio and event space that, once again, caught Michelle’s team’s eye.
I could go on (and on) about the full-circle feels, about how kind and collaborative her crew was, or how she wrapped the season finale by surprising the whole set—and the entire block if you were lucky enough to wander down it that night —with a Mr. Softee truck out front. Still the same generous, and genuinely lovely human we first met all those years ago.
In a surprise twist of fate some of the show's producers had worked with my partner, Jeremy, longtime stuntman and stunt coordinator on other productions. So they asked him to drive Michelle and the HOT ITALIAN GUY for the season finale’s closing scene. Squint to catch a ½ second glimpse of him as the cab driver before whisking the leads off in the night for season two’s cliffhanger. It was the first (and probably last) time Jeremy and I have ever been on set together. He and I never met in my set designer days.
S2 Finale, filmed right outside our loft
Watching our space come to life on-screen just as we deliver it to clients, plant-filled, glowing and full of potential had me absolutely OVER THE MOON.
S2 Finale, filmed inside the Greene Loft
More than anything, I am so grateful for Michelle Buteau and her production team for choosing to shoot in New York City, a decision that’s never been more meaningful. Film shoots like this are what launched our business and put us on the map. They’re the foundation we were built on. Our hospitality offerings came later as the film industry's presence in NYC diminished post lockdown. We've shifted and adapted, but our heart has always been in production.
Here’s the not-so-secret secret of the industry: just because a character lives in NYC doesn’t mean the show is shot here. There are plenty of other places overseas and across the country that offer big tax incentives and budget-friendly shortcuts for pretending to be New York. And in a post-pandemic, post-SAG/Writer’s-strike landscape where film studios are closing and massive layoffs are happening on both coasts, the decision to film locally is anything but small.
Every local job matters. Every shoot filmed here in New York keeps someone working. Every space booked means the lights stay on. (Including ours)
And let’s be real: duplicating NYC elsewhere may save a buck, but it’ll never capture the grit, soul and energy of this city.
We LOVE the people who fight to keep telling funny, inclusive, heartwarming, and deeply human stories right here in New York City. In the same city where Harry met Sally, where Carrie met Mr. Big, where Mookie met Tina.
Now, it’s also where Lucca met Mavis Beaumont —boldly, beautifully, and right on time.
To the creators who choose New York, thank you. We see you. We’re with you. And we’ll keep fighting the good fight right alongside you.
