We've had some excitement in our neighborhood over the past two weeks - "Hollywood South" came to call!
Thanks to a tax incentive that was approved in 2002, Louisiana has become a hot spot for filming movies and television programs. The movie business in Louisiana really took off after Hurricane Katrina and has been going big guns for the past few years. According to some measures, the state is out-producing California when it comes to movie and TV shows, thus the nickname “Hollywood South”.
Thanks to a tax incentive that was approved in 2002, Louisiana has become a hot spot for filming movies and television programs. The movie business in Louisiana really took off after Hurricane Katrina and has been going big guns for the past few years. According to some measures, the state is out-producing California when it comes to movie and TV shows, thus the nickname “Hollywood South”.
New Orleans has been a frequent choice as a production
location – just think of the HBO series “Treme” and "True Detective" or the current CBS TV show
“NCIS New Orleans”. It’s fairly typical
to come across production locations as you drive around town. And of course, you may run into your favorite
movie star at the coffee shop or in the grocery store!
So I wasn’t surprised when there was a knock on my door two
weeks ago and a nice young man from a movie production company asked if we
would cooperate with a TV production being filmed on our street. All we were asked to do was keep our modern
cars out of sight for a few days and allow the production crew to film the
exterior of our house and work in front of our house. And they would pay us for this!
We had two days of “excitement” when the actual filming
occurred. Our neighbor’s house two
doors down was the focus of filming, although most of the action
occurred inside the house. There were
vintage cars parked all over the street on the first day of filming. The second day was much more intense and
lasted until well after dark. Our street
is horseshoe-shaped and not very big/long, but there were trucks and equipment
of every size and sort packed in and around the horseshoe.
The number of people on hand for the two days of filming was
huge - you know, all the jillions of people listed in the credits at the end of the movie! I’m sure everyone had a job to
perform, but most of the time they were just standing around, waiting for their moment. At one point, they were filming an outdoor
scene involving screeching car tires; I think they shot the scene at least 10
times!
In order to get paid for our participation, we had to sign a
contract – so I can’t give you any info about the name of the show or the
storyline or anything. Also – no pictures! The good news is, I got a nice
little check for fabric stash enhancement!
Fortuitously, one of my local quilt shops had an anniversary
party last Friday and offered customers 30% off everything in the store!
I bought backing yardage for my nieces' Memory Quilts.
Yardage for borders for two of last year's RSC quilts.
Some miscellaneous fat quarters that may or may not work their way into the bins of strips and squares.
And some purple fat quarters just because purple is my favorite color! The 3 fabrics on the left are from a collection called Linen Cupboard by Ella Blue.
Now just to tie this all together - do you think there's much call for quiltmakers for the movies? Maybe I can earn some more stash enhancement money!
