Written by on Jan 20, 2014. Posted in Incentive News

Filming incentive deal helps Virginia win historic war drama Turn from Georgia

A filming incentive deal helped secure new AMC TV war drama Turn for a location shoot in Virginia, rather than Georgia. The series stars British actor Jamie Bell and follows the spy ring that helped George Washington win America’s Revolutionary War in the late 18th Century.

“They filmed the pilot here last spring and then we had to wait to see if it would get picked up for series,” Virginia Film Office Director Andy Edmunds told Richmond.com: “Then there was the very real chance that the series would go to Georgia due to consistent and more tax credits and incentives available.

“We were able to assemble a proposal to accommodate their needs for two seasons - hopefully it will continue for years. They began to prep for the series in the fall and will film until March - all around central Virginia. If it is successful they would then return in September for Season Two.”

Virginia got a profile boost in 2012 when it hosted Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning Lincoln and the state’s military resources were used for Tom Hanks’ modern piracy drama Captain Phillips. The base filming tax credit in Virginia is 15%.

Further south, Georgia remains one of the top location filming production hubs in the US, partly because of its generous filming incentive of up to 30%.

Georgia is currently most famous for hosting massively successful cable TV horror The Walking Dead and production infrastructure is available at facilities such as Atlanta Film Studios and the upcoming Pinewood Atlanta Studios.

Turn is just the latest historical miniseries to be brought to TV after the success of shows such as Game of Thrones, Vikings and Spartacus, while pirate drama Black Sails makes its debut soon.

(Photos: Frank Ockenfels III/Antony Platt/AMC)