New Line Cinema's 'Bridgeport' Sets Albany, New York Shoot for Summer 2026 with Peter Safran Producing

New Line Cinema has a feature film gearing up for a summer 2026 shoot in Albany, New York, and the names attached to it are worth paying close attention to. Currently known by the working title "Bridgeport - Albany Local," the project is already in pre-production and casting, with principal photography scheduled to begin July 27, 2026. For crew and casting professionals in the Northeast, this is one to get on your radar now, not later.

Behind the camera is director Rodrique Huart, a filmmaker with a background in genre-driven narratives and visual storytelling that has been building toward a studio feature opportunity like this. The script comes from writing team Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing, who are best known in the industry as the co-creators and showrunners of the Shudder horror series "Chapelwaite," the Stephen King adaptation that demonstrated their command of atmospheric, character-anchored storytelling. Their transition from prestige horror television to a New Line Cinema feature is a natural one, given the studio's deep roots in genre filmmaking. Whether "Bridgeport" leans into thriller or horror territory is not yet confirmed from the available data, but the combination of this writing team and New Line's brand history makes that a reasonable inference.

The producing setup here is particularly notable. Peter Safran serves as producer, and his involvement signals serious institutional weight behind this project. Safran is, of course, best known as one half of the Safran Company alongside James Wan, a partnership responsible for producing the "Conjuring" universe, "Aquaman," and the broader horror and superhero slate that made them one of the more powerful producing teams in studio genre filmmaking over the past decade. He also now serves as co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios alongside James Gunn, making his continued involvement in a New Line feature a meaningful vote of confidence in the project. Natalia Safran and John Rickard round out the executive producer roster, with Rickard being a longtime New Line and Warner Bros. creative executive whose fingerprints are on numerous successful studio productions over the years.

The production is anchored in Albany, New York, a choice almost certainly driven by New York State's exceptionally competitive film tax incentive program, which offers qualifying productions a 25 percent tax credit on below-the-line costs incurred in the state, with an additional 10 percent available for productions shooting outside of New York City in what the state designates as the upstate region. Albany sits squarely in that upstate designation, meaning this production is positioned to capture the full benefit. Albany and the surrounding Capital Region have hosted a growing number of film and television productions in recent years, and while the local crew base is more modest than what you would find in New York City or even Buffalo, it is capable and experienced. Productions based in Albany frequently supplement local hires with crew traveling from the New York City metro area, particularly for department head positions. The proximity to NYC (roughly two and a half hours by car or train) makes that logistical pipeline straightforward.

On the casting side, two local casting directors are already attached: Amy Hutchings and Heidi Eklund. Both are active in the New York regional casting market, and their involvement this far in advance of the July start date suggests that local talent searches are either underway or imminent. Agents representing talent in the Albany, Hudson Valley, and broader upstate New York corridor should be paying close attention. For background casting and day-player roles, the region's talent pool will almost certainly be tapped heavily, and those conversations are likely happening now.

As a studio feature from New Line Cinema with a producing team of this caliber, "Bridgeport" is almost certainly a SAG-AFTRA production operating on a studio-tier budget. That means union crew should be positioning themselves accordingly. The July 2026 start date gives the production roughly six months of pre-production runway from now, which means department heads in camera, art, costume, locations, and production design are in the hiring window right now. Given the upstate New York base, location managers and scouts familiar with the Albany and Capital Region geography will be particularly valuable, as will any crew with established relationships with New York State Film Office contacts and regional stage or production infrastructure. The relative scarcity of large-format stage space in the immediate Albany area may push certain interior work toward facilities in other parts of the state, but that is speculative at this stage.

ProductionList.com has the full listing for "Bridgeport - Albany Local," including the complete crew list as it develops, production company contacts, and location and scheduling updates as they become available. If you are a department head, day player, or casting professional looking to get ahead of this one, the time to reach out is now, well before cameras roll in late July. Check the listing, save your contacts, and make your move.

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