On Location Tours is a tour company that offers bus and walking tours that visit famous filming locations. They operate in several US cities, with a heavy focus on New York City.
One of my first exposures to filming locations was back in 2004. A friend and I were attending Wrestlemania XX at Madison Square Garden. We had been to NYC previously, so we wanted to do something different from the regular city tours. I’d always wanted to see the Ghostbusters building so when I came across On Location Tours, we decided to book it. We visited a number of filming locations including the Friends Building, Carrie Bradshaw’s Brownstone, and the Cosby Show House. We had a really great time, and that helped to fuel my interest in filming locations.
I recently had a chance to interview Georgette Blau about the various tours offered. If you’d like to experience one of their tours for yourself, you can visit their website here.
Hi Georgette, thank you for taking the time to talk about On Location Tours. Your company has grown to offer a wide variety of tours in several cities, including New York City and Boston. What would you suggest for someone doing their first tour?
I would definitely recommend someone taking our signature tour, The NYC TV & Movie Tour. It covers over 60 TV shows and movies, and is updated every few months with the newest TV show and movie locations. In addition, it goes off the beaten path to neighborhoods like Greenwich Village that are not often visited by tourists. We recently added Chicago, and we’re excited to be running TV and movie tours there!
What are some of the most requested sites to visit?
The Friends apartment building and Carrie’s “stoop” are among those most requested sites to visit. I’m guessing people are very into visiting characters’ homes!
New York City is probably the most iconic destination in terms of being featured in movies and TV shows. What do you think has made the city such an interesting setting for so many stories?
New York City is so diverse, so it’s a natural setting for almost any genre and TV show or movie plot. The city is so vast. It offers anything from beautiful Fifth Avenue townhouses to office high rises to quaint boutiques to a partially above ground subway. In addition, especially in recent years, the city has made it even easier to film in the city.
When a new show or movie becomes popular, what goes into deciding how to include it on a tour, or even if it deserves a dedicated tour?
It’s very rare that a TV show or a movie has enough locations for its own dedicated tour. In that case, or if we add just a couple of locations to our NYC TV & Movie tour, we make sure it’s not too far to the next location.
You offer a number of walking tours as well. How much walking is included? Are these suitable for most abilities?
Yes, our walking tours are all very easy, leisurely walks, and we even offer routes that are wheelchair accessible. We only offer walking tours where it is an easy enough walk for most people. They are generally not over two hours. We also stop along the way at a few locations.
Does On Location Tours offer private tours or other languages?
We in fact just launched our Central Park TV & Movie tour using a free GPS aid in three languages – German, French, and Spanish. It works in tandem with the English speaking tours. We can also offer any of our tours privately in almost any language through a translator working alongside the tour guide.
What sort of background do your tour guides have? How do you go about selecting someone as a guide?
Our tour guides are all local actors and actresses, and we intentionally do that so they can share their experience being on a set, and they are fairly flexible between auditioning, etc. We are in fact known for hiring very engaging, personable guides, and we are known for being extremely selective! We really feel that they are so integral to the tour experience.
Do you get cooperation from various studios in visiting some of the locations on your tours? Do they give you updates on filming that is happening?
We actually launched the What’s Filming Now app. It’s a user generated app that gives you information on where things are filming around the country (or have just filmed or are about to film).
Do you ever come across actual filming during the tours? Any celebrity sightings?
We do often pass filming, and once in a while celebrities, which everyone aboard always gets excited about. Over the years, we’ve often run into Sarah Jessica Parker, some of the cast of Modern Family, and even had a John Kerry sighting on a recent Boston tour.
You have partnered with TCM to offer a tour of classic movie locations. What are some of the most beloved movies included on the tour?
We now run the tour as the New York Classic Film tour. My personal favorite is The Apartment, but some of the many movies included on the tour include The Seven Year Itch, Rosemary’s Baby, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and some Woody Allen movies.
I recently interviewed Tim from Broadway Up Close about the close connections between the film and theatre industries. What are some of the Broadway and theatre locations that can be seen on your tours?
We see some of the Broadway theaters on our NYC TV & Movie tour, as we drive through the Times Square area, but other than that, we are mainly in the other areas of the city, for example, Tribeca and the West Village. However, we are in the same entertainment industry, which is a big draw to New York City for tourists.
The Covid pandemic had a huge effect on tourism and filming productions. Can you share some insight on how On Location Tours has adapted over the last few years?
We were taking precautions during the Pandemic as far as customers wearing masks, focusing more on walking tours, virtual tours, and people purchasing private tours to do on their own (we even purchased a mini van as a result of this).
As the world has adapted to these changes, what are your hopes for the future of filming and tourism in NYC?
We are hoping that filming always stays strong in New York City, since it’s the greatest backdrop in the world!
