One of the last productions to film in Wilmington this year started rolling cameras today at Reggie’s 42nd Street Tavern.
The TBS pilot “Vacationland,” written by husband-and-wife team Samantha Bee and Jason Jones, shot exterior and interior scenes at the bar, where a condor lighting rig and other filming activity could be seen from the nearby Oleander Drive.
The street was blocked off between Oleander and Peachtree Drive, providing privacy for crews to shoot the day’s scenes. Filming was scheduled to continue at Reggie’s until 8 p.m., according to a permit. Crews also plan to shoot at the bar Thursday.
The location is the first for the Bee-Jones project, which stars Jones as a father of a getaway-bound family. Known to audiences as correspondents on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Bee and Jones wrote the pilot inspired by their own family getaways.
Other locations for the pilot, which will be pitched for a possible series, are slated to include the Union Station building at Cape Fear Community College and a home on Columbia Avenue.
The pilot is getting in just before the state’s current film incentive is set to expire at the end of this year. The North Carolina General Assembly passed a budget this year that includes a scaled-down film credit—a capped grant fund program that observers say will reduce the amount of film activity in the state next year.
Other productions filming in the area include Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow” and the feature film “Bolden!” Another film, “Blue Mountain State: The Movie,” is in preproduction.
Related stories:
- TBS pilot to film here in December
- Film commission: Production inquiries down more than half from last year
- Amid industry uncertainty, film commission looks to keep cameras rolling
Jonathan Spiers is a reporter for Port City Daily. He can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or jonathan.s@portcitydaily.com. On Twitter: @jrspiers
