Bad blood? An Upstate New York drive-in movie theater is calling out Taylor Swift.
The Drive-in 32 in Greenville, N.Y., says it is now the “world’s most viewed drive-in screen” after appearing in the lyric video for Swift’s song “This Is Me Trying.” The video has nearly 18 million views since it was released on July 24, 2020.
The video uses the Greenville drive-in, displaying the song’s lyrics on the large movie screen, but never gives credit to the location. Even worse, the footage was taken from a freelance photographer who sold it as stock video falsely claiming it was an “abandoned” drive-in theater.
“It has taken us a little time to unwind what happened, but it is a distinctly modern tale,” the drive-in’s official Instagram account said Monday. “Somewhere during the winter of either 2018 or 2019, an overseas-based freelance photographer entered our property without permission and began filming. He then placed that footage with @shutterstock advertising the footage as ‘abandoned upstate NY drive-in theatre’. (Mind you, to access our property he had to pass our marquee, box office and several signs that clearly stated we were active and off-season… but, anyway.) Someone in Taylor’s creative team purchased a $75 license from the stock agency for the footage, enlarged it, slowed it down, stitched together 14 loops of the original 11-second clip and then added the lyrics on our screen. Voila! Instant music video. After one of our eagle-eyed Swiftie staffers quickly brought it to our attention, we did attempt to reach out to Taylor’s team to politely ask if they might identify and credit the drive-in as the location for the music video. Alas, we have yet to receive a response from her representatives.”
This video still from Taylor Swift's "This Is Me Trying" shows the screen at Drive-in 32 in Greenville, N.Y., located about 30 miles southwest of Albany.
Drive-in 32 owner David Grimm told Rolling Stone that he’s not upset about it, but wants Swift or her team to acknowledge them.
“It’s just a piece of modern, surreal life,” Grimm told the magazine. “I kind of like notoriety that we are now the sort of the world’s most viewed drive-in screen. And it gives us something funny to talk about.”
It’s with that sense of humor that the Greenville drive-in has adopted July 24 as “Taylor Swift Appreciation Day.” To celebrate, the theater is throwing a Taylor Swift-themed karaoke night this Friday, July 28, and inviting fans to sing along with lyrics projected on the same screen Swift’s video used.
“We might even do a group sing-a-long of ‘This is Me Trying,’” the Instagram post said.
“This Is Me Trying” is from Swift’s Grammy-winning “folklore” album, which had an accompanying concert film that was also filmed in Upstate New York at Long Pond Studio, located in the Hudson Valley.
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