American High: Syracuse film studio brings entertainment industry education, jobs, investment to Central New York

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — From the parking lot, it almost seems like a real high school: an imposing, three-story brick building, its facade covered in evenly spaced windows. A flagpole and bright yellow bus sit next to the structure, while a basketball court and soccer field lie behind it.

However, even from the outside, something is off. The side of the bus reads simply “school district.” A police car parked nearby similarly bears no department. And above the building’s front doors, a sign displays a suspiciously generic name for an educational institution.

That name is American High, the production company that has operated this former high school as a film studio since acquiring it in 2017.

And despite producing hit films such as “Big Time Adolescence,” “The Binge” and “Pizza Movie,” this building — American High’s “home base” — is not located in Hollywood, or even New York City.

Instead, the studio can be found in a quiet residential area of Liverpool, a suburb of Syracuse, New York.

“In the 2015, 2016 kind of range, there had become a huge tax incentive, and tax breaks, for film companies in places like Central New York,” said Vince Walker, the studio’s general manager.

Those incentives attracted filmmaker Jeremy Garelick, who sought to establish a film studio to produce low-budget comedy films aimed at a teenaged audience.

The result was American High, which has since had a notable impact on Central New York’s filmmaking scene, job market and economy.

The next generation of regional filmmakers

Jonah Hawthorne is a recent graduate of SUNY Oswego who can speak to American High’s impact personally, having interned with them last summer.

“I was a production intern,” Hawthorne said. “I was on set. You can see my name’s in the credits for ‘Pizza Movie.’”

For Hawthorne, the most valuable part of his experience was the opportunity to connect with a variety of industry professionals without leaving home to live in Los Angeles or New York City.

“Imagine there’s a hundred people, and you can go up to camera and lighting and costume and everything, and actually get these first-hand experiences and advice,” he said. “When you do an internship like that, working in film doesn’t feel like this pie-in-the-sky idea anymore.”

Regional college students like Hawthorne are an important part of the studio. Walker is a graduate of both SUNY Oswego and Tompkins Cortland Community College, while administrative director Andie Schlenker attended Onondaga Community College and Syracuse’s Le Moyne College.

“I did grow up here, and used to think working in film was a pipe dream, and now I’m doing it full-time, here in Syracuse, New York,” Schlenker said. “We have a ton of film students locally between Ithaca and Syracuse and all of these great films programs — SUNY Oswego as well — so we do interact with the colleges a bunch.”

In addition to handling the studio’s finances, Schlenker serves as the executive director of the Academy at American High, a nonprofit trade school which offers workshops and certificates as well as internships like Hawthorne’s.

“It’s funny that it’s a school, because it still acts as a school,” Walker said. “We allow people to come in here and learn. We also teach an academy.”

Walker also pointed out that film education, internships and career opportunities are not the only ways American High supports central New York college students.

“Normally we charge people who aren’t students five grand a day to film in our place,” Walker said. “It’s the costly price of being in a real film studio with access to real equipment and props and all that. However, if you’re a student, there’s an immense discount. It’s like more than ten times less.”

A local economic engine

Beyond their connections to local colleges, American High has also served to affect central New York in more direct ways.

According to Walker, a large-scale production at American High — such as those they undertake as part of their deal with streaming service Hulu — can employ up to 400 people.

“And that doesn’t even include extras,” he said.

Joshua Adams, a film industry veteran who has taught at SUNY Oswego since 2008, said that the studio has both grown the economy and the local filmmaking scene.

“Economically, it’s great,” Adams said. “It brings money into the region. They’re able to spend here, and as they’ve grown, they’ve been able to also hire from here.”

Adams also believes that American High offers not only a large quantity of relevant opportunities, but quality opportunities.

“It’s a great place to work no matter where you’re at in your career,” he said. “I’ve gotten to go be on some of their sets, and look around, and it’s as exciting as any set that I’ve ever been on.”

Those sets require more than just a cast and crew to function, however, and it is in those gaps where American High looks to other businesses around the area.

Walker specifically pointed to restaurants and manufacturers that supply food, props and other services to the studio.

“The impact is major because it also impacts all the businesses around here,” Walker said. “It is incredible how much this has impacted the local economy.”

This has made American High a bright spot in a region that otherwise often appears gloomy.

Continuing to grow

The studio is also a bright spot in an industry facing a chaotic present and uncertain future. 

According to Walker, American High has only grown over the past several years, despite challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple union strikes and questions over the use of artificial intelligence (AI) that have rocked the film industry.

“It’s just grown and grown and grown. And the past few films that we’ve done, Hulu films, have been really, really widely watched,” he said. “Millions of views, and lots of good reviews.”

American High’s latest film, “Pizza Movie,” debuted atop Hulu’s film streaming charts earlier this year, and became the sixth of American High’s 15 original films to be “Certified Fresh” by popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

They do not intend to stop there, however. The studio currently has multiple projects in development, including a movie starring Owen Wilson and Matt Rife that has been filming in their recently acquired Atlanta studio.

“They’re really kind of expanding what they do,” Adams said.

That expansion includes both the Atlanta studio, and a number of properties around the Syracuse area.

“We just bought the Limp Lizard, in town, the local bar,” Walker said.

That specific location is for another upcoming project, the Netflix series “Minimum Wage.” It joins the Liverpool studio, two more commercial properties and four houses all owned by American High in the Syracuse area.

As they continue to grow, industry professionals like Adams hope they inspire an even larger film industry presence in central New York.

Specifically, Adams dreams of the Syracuse area continuing to expand in terms of filmmaking infrastructure, adding a soundstage larger than the one at American High.

“The one thing that Syracuse is missing is an actual soundstage that can support a $20, $25 million-plus production,” he said. “With the tax credit in this state, that’s one of the necessary things on some of these contracts. And so some of these movies just can’t come here.”

Still, he appreciates all American High has done for filmmaking in the region already.

“The biggest thing is creating this industry here that people are now aware of, and people are able to take advantage of,” Adams said.

American High does intend to keep growing, however — both as a film studio, and a part of the central New York community.

“We work with CNY Arts, we work with Visit Syracuse, we work with Syracuse Actors Studio, we work with WCNY. It’s just nice to kind of have that community feel,” Schlenker said. “I would encourage the community to not be a stranger. If there’s a need or a want, let us know.”