Tour of Wildflower Studios

In July 2026, Neil Herdan, co-chair of Friends of Whitey Ford Field, took three students from Frank Sinatra School of the Arts on a planned visit to Wildflower Studios. The students had been working on a few infomercials/Public Service Announcements to motivate stakeholders into funding repairs at Whitey Ford Field. As part of this learning exercise, the author pitched the idea of visiting and presenting their work to Wildflower’s executives. The goal was to expose the students to a professional evaluation of their editing. Each student produced their own visual interpretation for our PSA requirements and three PSAs were released for distribution.

In addition, the author thought it was a good idea to expose my team to the latest developments in film and video production. The Head of Frank Sinatra’s film program. Dmitry Gubin approved the visit, and their Assistant Principal authorized the excursion.

Wildflower Studios opened in December 2024 at a cost of $1 billion. Robert De Niro, his son Raphael De Niro, and real estate developer Adam Gordon are co-founders and business partners of their 21st-century film and video production facilities. Wildflower offers the most sustainable movie facilities in the United States, with solar panels on the roof, state-of-the-art sound stages. They have the latest pre- and post-production equipment, and a beautiful public space that runs along Luyster Creek which is situated right next to the studios. The campus is located at the western end of 19th Ave. Wildflower is a 760,000-square-foot vertical structure with eleven large studios averaging 17,000-18,000 square feet per sound stage. Its location in Astoria gives top talent quick access to Manhattan and the airports. LaGuardia is approximately one mile away near the eastern end of 19th Avenue. De Niro is on record saying that he only wanted to shoot in New York, which has some of the best tax credits in the country.

 

 

 

 

A-list talent have all worked on movies shot on their sound stages. Wildflower’s current productions constitutes 60% serial TV shows and 40% movie productions. We were told that the sound stages have been used to shoot music videos, and this was of particular interest to the author, who had a brief spell co-producing Latin Music Videos for Univision and Telemundo back in the late 1990s.

 

The Studios are impressive. It doesn’t really hit you until you’re inside how large the campus is, especially when you see the signs next to the large (elephant) elevators leading to different sound stages, all clearly numbered. The reception area is spacious, allowing groups to gather comfortably, making the experience feel special and exclusive, especially when we sat down to meet with Adam Gordon.

Adam was very gracious and had specially driven in from the city to meet with us. In addition to the students, one parent joined us and later remarked on how much she and her daughter had enjoyed the tour. It beats flying out to Hollywood!

Before our visit, I had encouraged the students to watch A Bronx Tale and The Deer Hunter. Both films came up in our Q&A discussion with Adam about De Niro, and both features have a strong connection to Astoria, as you will read later.

Robert De Niro is widely regarded as one of America’s foremost actors, with over a hundred movie credits in acting, directing, and producing. He won two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather Part II in 1974 and Best Actor for Raging Bull in 1980. His iconic films include Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Godfather Part II, The Deer Hunter, The Irishman, Once Upon a Time in America, Casino, Analyze This, Analyze That, Goodfellas, The Good Shepherd, The Untouchables, and Meet the Fockers sequels. His upcoming film, Focker-in- Law, is set for release in November 2026. His most recent movies include The Alto Nights and The Whisper Man. De Niro is currently attached to After Exile, which is in pre-production. A full list of his movies can be found on IMDB – https://www.imdb.com/list/ls062676185/

A Bronx Tale was De Niro’s directorial debut. Released in 1993, it follows a young Italian-American boy named Calogero, who grows up in the Bronx during the 1960s. He is torn between his honest bus driver father and a charismatic local mafia boss. The scene where Calogero hangs out with his friends at the Fordham Social Club (C and his friends) took place at 30-05 45th Street, which is now the Mimoza Cafe.

Then we discussed The Deer Hunter. Released in 1978, the motion picture won five Academy Awards. It is one of the finest Vietnam War movies ever produced. Directed by Michael Cimino, the film portrays three Russian-American steelworkers from Clairton Pennsylvania who volunteer to fight in Vietnam. Robert De Niro plays Michael Vronsky, and Christopher Walken plays Nick Chevotarevich, The movie’s climax comes when Michael and Nick play Russian roulette in a Vietnamese gambling den. De Niro’s co-star, Astoria native Christopher Walken, won the Oscar for best supporting actor at the 1979 Academy Awards for this very powerful scene.

 

In discussing A Bronx Tale we learned that De Niro’s son Raphael was used as an extra. The author suggested re-broadcasting the movie as part of a movie series on the waterfront at Whitey Ford Field would foster community pride and nostalgia. Many residents fondly remember being extras or watching the movie being shot near 30th Avenue.

My crew explained how the author pitched the PSA idea to Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. Adam was interested in learning about their filmmaking interests, which ranged from documentaries to horror movies.  The author and my team explained that Whitey Ford Field needed repairs and that many in the community wanted to bring family events to the ballpark, such as movie nights. Friends of Whitey Ford Field are actively discussing several options to promote the field. The author told Adam that we had worked with the Parks Department to show “Field of Dreams,” at Whitey Ford Field last year. Adam had expressed an interest in helping us in prior emails.

The author was interested in the difference between their business model and Kaufman’s. Wildflower keeps a low profile and doesn’t advertise their productions. Kaufman is much smaller. Their footprint is 500,000 square feet. Like Wildflower, they have eleven sound stages and include 325,000 square feet for production offices, support spaces, and an outdoor studio backlot. In contrast, Wildflower’s sound stages are arranged vertically, and production facilities are enclosed.

Kaufman is known for Sesame Street, Orange is the New Black, and Nurse Jackie, amongst many other titles.

One of their employees led our tour of Wildflower. We could see that Wildflower takes great care of their employees, production crews, and of course, talent. Teamsters have a space to take a break on long shoots. A large car park under the studios helps reduce street parking so much that we only noticed delivery vehicles outside the building. The elevators to the sound stages are known as elephant elevators, and they are just that, huge.

Photography was strictly limited. Apparently, there was an active shoot. Our first stop was the dining area and commissary, which was well lit. There was a small painting on one wall by De Niro’s mother, Virginia Admiral, who was a painter and poet. Then we headed for the Green Room, which is 3000 square feet and has a fireplace, lounge and terrace. This backstage area lets talent rest before going on stage. We were only able to take a peek at the VIP Suite. Then it was on to the sound stages. We saw a carpenter at work and then were taken up to a gantry overlooking the sound stage. We did not have access to see the post production editing equipment. Our PSA had been edited on Adobe Premiere.

There is a separate veranda that has a stunning view of the Hell Gate Bridge and Manhattan skyline.

 

The following week the author returned to photograph the public walkway alongside Luyster Creek. It was a beautiful day with families hanging out on the benches. Wildflower added a very nice touch to the walkway by adding plaques describing the outside vegetation.

 

All in all a very memorable experience, and we would like to thank Adam and his colleague for providing us with unique access to their 21st Century sound stages.

Friends of Whitey Ford looks forward to engaging with Wildflower next year on future projects such as movie nights and possibly an actor’s studio for the students at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. As for the Public Service Announcements, we got some positive feedback that the students had real potential. You can view the various PSAs at this link here – https://friendsofwhiteyfordfield.org/freshman-students-from-frank-sinatra-school-of-arts-team-up-with-friends-of-whitey-ford-field-to-highlight-flooding-and-lack-of-maintenance-at-the-ballfield/

The Old Astoria Neighborhood Association is the fiscal sponsor of Friends of Whitey Ford Field