Written by Shona Smith on May 18, 2021. Posted in On Location

Florida’s St Pete/Clearwater Film Commission and Visit Florida behind Amazon Prime's "Life's Rewards"

Airing on Amazon Prime, Life’s Rewards is produced by Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, St. Pete/Clearwater Film Commission and Visit Florida and marks the first time an original scripted series has been developed by a destination marketing organisation for a streaming service.

The eight x 10-15 minute scripted dramedy Life’s Rewards is entirely filmed and set in the popular tourist destination on Florida's Gulf Coast. The series is the result of a year-long partnership with Odyssey, the Studio at Miles Partnership and Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, and is an example of an entertainment first content approach to television marketing by a tourism organisation to build destination engagement with viewers and spark a desire to travel.

The series follows well off businessman Dan Kinney as he adjusts to an unexpected shift in lifestyle and circumstance when a business trip to Florida goes south. Kinney is forced to live off the only two assets he has left – his unquestionable charisma and hotel points. The series flaunts the area's best assets as Kinney is stranded at the Don CeSar hotel on St Pete Beach, voted the No.1 Best U.S. Beach in 2021 by TripAdvisor. St. Pete Pier, night spots, the Chihuly and Dalí museums and the Discovery centre also feature.

The series premiered at the local Sunscreen Film Festival, and in addition to Amazon Prime, Life’s Rewards is accessible on YouTube, GoUSA TV and Places Travel. Steve Hayes, president and CEO of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater explains the motivation behind the content first marketing push: “Life’s Rewards is an entertaining series that is both heart-warming and binge-worthy. Following a uniquely challenging year for the travel industry, Visit St. Pete/Clearwater is excited to embark on this new frontier of destination marketing by bringing forth compelling programming that inspires wanderlust.”

The series also promotes the reputation of St. Petersburg/Clearwater as a destination for filmmaking by reflecting the local pool of locations, crew and equipment. St  Petersburg / Clearwater featured in Moviemaker's list of the best big US cities to live and work as a moviemaker in 2021.

"We've always been an innovative film commission and are excited to work with filmmakers on developing even more unique projects to be shot in St. Pete Clearwater" says Film Commissioner Tony Armer. The Film Commission also has a development programme with film, television, digital media, music videos and other formats eligible for funding incentives and has welcomed the production of feature films including Fear of Rain and Lady of the Manor in recent years.