Film equipment. Props. Boxes. Chairs. Tables. Ladders. Chipped paint across the walls. These were just a few of the things that filled Pleasantville Community Television’s (PCTV) newest studio location at 2 Lake Street.
“I have to move all this stuff into a pod by the end of the day, so let’s see if I can do it,” said Shane McGaffey, PCTV Station Manager.
Previously located on Jackson Street, in an alleyway in the heart of Pleasantville, PCTV was forced to relocate for two reasons: water issues and rent increases. According to McGaffey, water leaked from the roof and air conditioning unit into the walls last year, causing damage to equipment that totaled about $50,000. While dealing with these issues, PCTV’s landlord increased the rent and expected them to pay for the damages themselves. That’s when McGaffey decided it was time to move.
Operating as a 501(c)(3), a non-profit organization, PCTV always has a Village Board of Trustees member on its board to serve as a liaison. Their current liaison is none other than the mayor of Pleasantville, Peter Scherer. It was because of this liaison that PCTV was able to find a new location so quickly.
Scherer recommended the old water pump house which had, up until then, been only used for storage as the new location for PCTV. He called the move “a modest upgrade.”
“Happily, we’re investing in a building we own instead of participating in the support of PCTV and paying rent to somebody else… The equivalent of the rent is improving a building that we own and is an asset to all of us,” Scherer said.
An inside look at the new PCTV studio before it is cleared out and renovations begin. With an architect now on board, renovations are expected to be underway soon. (Pleasantville Press/Kamari Stewart)
The new space has since served as a location for McGaffey to edit and produce programs, but is still not suitable for filming. Pleasantville High School has allowed him to use its studio (which he just so happened to help design) during off-school hours.
Not having one location to film, edit, and produce programs has created quite the workflow problem for McGaffey.
“It’s been very time consuming and it has been really frustrating,” McGaffey said. Not having one network where all projects are stored and instead having to store certain projects on certain computers has slowed down the production process, he said.
“At one point, I was working out of Village Hall, the studio, and the school. It’s very hard when you have equipment and things in three separate places,” he said.
Working out of several locations is not the only thing that has frustrated McGaffey. Even though PCTV was able to find a new location relatively quickly, everything else has not moved quite as fast.
“It’s been a slow process… We were expecting an architect to be approved back in May,” he said.
An architect was approved just last week. Erik Brotherton of Erik Brotherton Architect, PLLC will be taking on the redesign with McGaffey. The two took some time to look at the previous studio locations, including the school, to get a better feel for what this newer and bigger studio should look like.
Despite a slow start, McGaffey thinks that things are starting to look up.
“I get the sense that things are going to happen quite quickly now and we’ll end up with a really, really state-of-the-art studio that the community can hopefully enjoy for a long time,” he said.