Summer in the Spotlight for Lakewood

For Lakewood, it’s been the summer of lights, camera and action.

Starting in June, camera crews have been patrolling the city’s homes, parks and businesses looking for the perfect scenes. 

There have been four — count ‘em, four! — productions in Lakewood.

“It’s a big deal for our visibility,” said Dru Siley, the city’s director of planning and development. “That others from outside of Lakewood are actively looking to film and document here — with our great architectural and visual environment — just raises are profile locally regionally and nationally. It shares with the world all the great things about Lakewood.

“As I’ve said before, we are likely to be the next Vancouver of Ohio.”

In case you missed any of the action, we thought we’d run down the productions in the city this summer.

: Shot on Arthur Avenue in June, the film — an adventure comedy about Halloween — stars Nickelodeon’s Victoria Justice (Zoey 101, Victorious, iCarly) and will be directed by Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl, Chuck).

: A film about a group of runaways, artists and drifters who live in a Utopian squat house, "Beautiful Garden" set up shop last week at on Detroit Avenue and filmed throughout the evening.

: A locally produced indie film, finished production in Lakewood on Sunday at . The film, about a father who goes to extremes to save his only son from drug addiction, is produced by local production company Giant Leap Pictures.

: In June, a crew from HGTV came to Lakewood in secret to shoot for an upcoming episode of the reality TV show “House Hunters.” The show, about prospective homebuyers in their quest for a new home, will air sometime in the next several months. Little else is known about the shoot — including the location of the home — because the show’s producers want to keep a tight lid on the result.