Could Dayton be a movie making hotspot?

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - City leaders hope to bring a bit of Hollywood to Dayton.  They hope "lights, camera, action" will lead to jobs, profits and opportunities here at home.

Ohio has had it's share of box office success recently. The The Avengers movie was shot in Wilmington and Cleveland and the Ides of March filmed many of their scenes in the Cincinnati area.

Cincinnati Film Commissioner Kristen Erwin says Dayton is primed to land a major film too.

"Dayton's off to a great start. The bones and the mechanics are in place to be able to be one of these cities movies are taking a look at," said Erwin.

Friday at the Crowne Plaza, the Chamber, along with FilmDayton, a non-profit group promoting Dayton's film industry, invited Erwin to learn more.

"When I look at the scripts that I'm getting in Cincinnati there is no reason why Dayton shouldn't be getting similar scripts," said Erwin.

The financial impact is huge. Film crews from Ides of March pumped an estimated $20-million in to the Cincinnati economy.

The Avengers impact was even greater estimated at over $70-million.

Stephanie Precht of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce says the big bucks boost is felt instantly.

"It's to our benefit because it's a rapid influx of cash into the community, they hire a lot of temporary workers," said Stephanie Precht, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Thanks to Ohio's Film Tax credits that off-set the cost of filming, the Buckeye State has become one of the top 5 states for film-making.

"One of the things that Dayton needs to do is to embrace this FilmDayton and this film office because if they don't have a budget to market the city of Dayton they're not going to be considered," said Erwin.

"We worked closely with the City of Dayton when FilmDayton was first getting started a few years back and they created what is called the FAST program the Film and Screen Team," said Megan Cooper, Executive Director, FilmDayton.

The team is a one stop shop for all the necessary permits needed to shoot films on location

"They are creating a creation data base so film makers can easily log onto the internet and check out all the locations that Ohio has to offer," said Precht.

"Because we really want to make it easy, we want to say hey Dayton is open for film business. Come on here," said Cooper.

Middletown sometimes feels lost in the middle between Dayton and Cincinnati, but it is squarely in the spotlight now after middletown native Kayla Harrison won the first-ever gold medal in judo at the London Olympics.