Written by on Oct 30, 2014. Posted in On Location

Marvel shoots TV drama Agent Carter in LA as California preps for filming boost

Marvel and ABC are shooting new TV series Agent Carter in Los Angeles. The drama will be set in 1946 and follows the adventures of Hayley Atwell’s Agent Peggy Carter after the events of Marvel’s 2011 superhero movie Captain America: The First Avenger, where Carter first appeared.

California is preparing for a production boost when the state expands its filming incentive from next year. High-end productions have been making a gradual return to Los Angeles over the past year or so, despite California’s limited filming incentive.

Marvel shoots like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and TV drama Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (right) have dominated, although Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi series Extant also opted for a California base.

“The idea that some of these large-budget dramatic series are returning to LA is exciting to us because TV dramas are one of the most economically valuable forms of production,” said Paul Audley, president of FilmLA, in comments to the LA Times: “The hope for us is that when these tax credits start kicking in July, some of the Marvel films will follow suit and return to California.”

Marvel announced its new production slate earlier this week, with eight big-budget superhero features scheduled for release over the next five years. The news came just days after Warner Bros announced a schedule of at least ten superhero movies of its own from the DC canon of characters, for release over the same timeframe.

More superhero movies are also scheduled from different studios, continuing the X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four franchises. These movies have opted for North American production hubs Montreal, New York and Baton Rouge in Louisiana.

California launches its boosted filming incentive programme next year and will be hoping to start attracting some of these productions to Los Angeles. Marvel has largely shown a preference to film its movies in the UK over the past few years to take advantage of a generous filming incentive programme. However, the studio is reportedly keen to base more productions in California when the economics become more favourable.

Los Angeles is now moving to streamline the local production industry in anticipation of next year’s hoped-for filming increase. Plans include streamlining permitting processes, reducing filming fees and making parts of the city more accessible for filmmakers.

(Images: Marvel)