Written by Shona Smith on Nov 16, 2018. Posted in On Location

Coen brothers anthology film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs shot in New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska

Set after the civil war, the anthology film has six chapters telling separate tales of the settling of the American West. The shoot lasted from around fifty days, moving from New Mexico, to Colorado and Nebraska.

1542236523911While all taking place in the American West, each of the six chapters have distinct narrative feels and are set in different places in the western landscape. Todd Christensen, location manager for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs notes that “each story required a different look and set of locations” from “desert, plains, mountains and towns” which fit into the late 1800’s setting.

Late Day at Ghost RanchBonanza Creek Ranch, Eaves Ranch and San Cristobal Ranch in New Mexico were each used as western towns for the period production. Dramatic landscapes were found close by the western towns including Ghost Ranch, a wide expanse of rocky cliffs and canyons in northern New Mexico and Diablo Canyon whose jagged basalt cliffs offer striking backdrops. Vast landscapes were also captured at a local ranch.Summer Clouds over Diablo Canyon

After New Mexico, production headed to Colorado to shoot in a pristine valley with a river which Christensen notes was “a place that looked like no one had ever been there”.1542236523911

The Nebraskan portion of the shoot concentrated on ranches around Scottsbluff. Christensen explains that the scenes filmed here were to “get the look of the Oregon Trail ride” which had gone through the area along the North Platte River.$

New Mexico provides a 25-30% tax rebate for feature film, TV series, commercials and post-production.

Colorado has a 20% cash rebate on local spend available to feature film, TV commercials and video game production but 75% of the project must be shot in the region to access the rebate.

Nebraska currently has no formal incentives.

Images: Netflix 

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