The BBC has commissioned a new drama series set in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. Tatau will follow a young Englishman travelling with a friend to the Cook Islands, where he finds that the Maori tattoo he got in London has marked him out for a mysterious purpose.
Authorities in the Californian city of Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, have reported a location filming surge for the past year and the best June in the region’s history. According to the Santa Clarita Film Office, the city saw a 44% increase in film permits compared to the previous year.
Hotels and casinos in Las Vegas are making Nevada filming more viable for Hollywood productions through the use of dedicated film units. Productions like the comedies Last Vegas and the upcoming Think Like A Man Too have made special deals to use hotels as filming locations.
A movie for Japanese TV recounting the events of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo will be filmed on location in southern New Zealand. Tokyo Olympics ’64 is being made partly to promote the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games, which sees a return to the Japanese capital.
The BBC’s adaptation of JK Rowling’s 2012 novel The Casual Vacancy starts filming today on location in Stroud, near Bristol in south-west England. Produced by Bronte Film and Television and in association with HBO, the story traces tensions in a fictional market village in rural England.
China and South Korea have signed a co-production filming deal. The agreement will enable Korean movies made as official Chinese co-productions to bypass China’s strict quota on the number of international films that can be released each year.
An executive at Marvel Studios has warned of the issue of crew shortages for location shoots in Georgia. David Grant is Vice President of Physical Production for Marvel and is overseeing work in Atlanta on Ant-Man. The state is also home to long-running zombie drama The Walking Dead.
Cable channel HBO will film part of the fifth season of Game of Thrones on location in the Seville region of southern Spain. The show has been based in Northern Ireland throughout its four-season run, with additional location filming focussing on Iceland and Croatia.