'The Handmaid's Tale' among productions bringing stardom to Cambridge

Handmaid’s Tale returns to Cambridge for filming From CTV Kitchener’s Zayn Jinah: People in Cambridge were seeing red as the Emmy award-winning show returned to the city.

Cambridge was a little more star-studded on Monday as filming for a popular television show began again.

Crews were on location shooting scenes for the upcoming season of "The Handmaid’s Tale," part of a growing TV and film industry in Cambridge.

Dozens of on-lookers packed the sidewalk on Water Street to try to get a glimpse of the cast.

“I love it that my town is important enough and historic enough with the buildings to film a show like this,” says Ann Parker, a fan of the show.

The show’s arrival means more to the city than it’s cool factor, though: the industry has brought million in economic benefits.

“We’ve recorded over $2.3 million in local economic impact last year alone, over the past three years, it’s been closer to about $3.5 million,” says Devon Hogue, the city’s business information officer.

Hospitality also got a boost from booked hotels, while the filming itself has presented the opportunity to harness some stardom in the city.

“We developed some self-guided tour maps that show all the film locations that have been used in Cambridge, but we also separated that out and did one specific to Handmaid’s Tale,” Hogue says.

While the city may be benefitting, though, some businesses feel as though they’re missing their close-up.

Abdel Karim Nawabeet owns one of a few retail businesses on Main Street, just steps away from the action. He says that when the crews start shooting, people think that his store is closed.

“Each time when they close it, nobody covers the loss,” he says. “You lose business all day.”

Other businesses in the area, such as restaurants, say they’ve actually seen a boost in sales from the increased traffic.

The city says there are a few more projects coming to Cambridge later this year, but they’re asking them to consider filming in other parts of the city.

Hogue hinted that LeBron James may be attached to one of those movies—while James was cast in Space Jam 2 last year and it's scheduled to release in 2021, she says it isn't for that movie.