Written by on Jan 29, 2015. Posted in On Location

Patrick Stewart films new comedy series Blunt Talk in Los Angeles

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.

Television location filming in Los Angeles increased by 12% in 2014, helping boost the city’s overall location filming numbers by 10% for the year. Although clearly a positive development for Los Angeles, the figure masked a decline in feature production.

Griffith Park was the most popular filming location in Los Angeles in 2014, according to a Los Angeles Times report, with more than 300 production days recorded in the 4,310-acre park by screen agency FilmL.A.

The availability of vastly different terrain within relatively small distances and within easy reach of Los Angeles’ studios, has helped attract long-running crime dramas like Criminal Minds and NCIS: Los Angeles.

“It's got forests, caves, back roads, the carousel - it's got everything,” said Kris Bunting, Location Manager on the dystopian drama Atlas Shrugged: “The versatility of Griffith Park is what makes it so appealing.”

Griffith Park was the most popular filming location in Los Angeles in 2014.

Los Angeles has struggled to attract many big-budget TV dramas or film productions in recent years as California’s filming incentive has had limited annual funds and has not supported shoots with larger budgets. Star Trek Into Darkness and Captain America: The Winter Soldier have been two of the only big-budget shoots to film mainly in California.

This may all change in the coming months when California more than triples its annual film fund. However, Los Angeles will still face major competition from US cities like New York, Atlanta and New Orleans.

(Image: Starz)