Filming for the movie version of the wildly popular erotic novel Fifty Shades Of Grey helped boost production on Vancouver’s North Shore last year. The shoot included stage work at North Shore Studios, as well as location filming across the city.
Planned spending figures from the California Film Commission reveal that TV production will be prioritised under the state’s boosted filming incentive. State authorities are more than tripling the annual film fund and expanding support to big-budget movies and TV shoots.
Lawmakers in Washington, DC, are pushing to introduce local filming incentives. The city is a popular setting for TV productions like House of Cards, Veep and Scandal, but high-profile shows typically only spend a couple of days in the actual city to film establishing shots.
Veteran actor Patrick Stewart has started filming new comedy series Blunt Talk on location in Los Angeles. Executive produced by Family Guy guru Seth MacFarlane, the story will follow Stewart’s British broadcaster Walter Blunt as he transfers to a new job in US cable news.
The Location Managers Guild of America has announced the nominations for its second annual awards show. Location professionals will spend the next few weeks voting and the winners will be announced at a ceremony in Beverly Hills on 7 March.
Filmmaker Michael Mann shot his cybercrime movie Blackhat in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Los Angeles. Chris Hemsworth stars as a computer expert recruited to hunt an international gang of cyber criminals.
Television drama Sleepy Hollow will shift filming locations from North Carolina to Atlanta if it gets a season renewal. Raleigh has downgraded the state filming incentive to a grant system, with half of this year’s USD 10 million fund already allocated to the Stephen King drama Under the Dome.
Los Angeles saw an overall 10% increase in location filming in 2014, according to a new report from FilmL.A. Television production rose by 12%, but feature film activity declined by 3%, including a dramatic drop of nearly 30% in the last quarter alone.