Written by Tom Deehan on Oct 26, 2017. Posted in On Location / Production News

Hulu’s Locke & Key pilot now filming in Nova Scotia

The pilot for a potential show based on the critically acclaimed Locke & Key comic book series, is now being filmed on location in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The pilot is being developed for the streaming service, Hulu, who are keen to build on their recent success with The Handmaid’s Tale by offering more content to compete with Netflix and Amazon.

The pilot is being directed by Andy Muschietti, who recently made waves with his feature film adaptation of Stephen King’s It. Interestingly enough, the Locke & Key comic books are written by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King.

The production marks the second attempt at adapting Locke & Key into a television series, after a pilot was previously filmed for FOX back in 2011. Despite receiving a positive reaction upon a later screening, FOX decided not to order a series, leaving the property rights to be picked up by Hulu earlier this year.

Like most provinces in Canada, Nova Scotia benefits from having a dedicated film incentive to stimulate its production industry. Foreign productions can receive a reimbursement of up to 25% on local expenditure, bumped to 26% in the event of a co-production.

A further 6% is available depending on locations, duration and content relating to Nova Scotia, bringing the incentive to a maximum of 32% off all locally incurred production costs.

Nova Scotia’s popularity as a filming destination has continued to grow in recent years. Funding for the local incentive was increased by CAD1.5 million in June 2016 and again by CAD6.9 million in June 2017. In late 2016, Spike's Horror series, The Mist, qualified to receive an additional CAD6 million in production incentives.