Home / Location / United States of America >> illinois

Filming in illinois

Illinois' iconic locations have made it a highly sought after destination for big-budget feature films. The list of recent production in the state include Suicide Squad, Sense8 and Bad Moms.

Chicago has a thriving TV industry with successful dramas Chicago Fire and Chicago PD, both from veteran producer Dick Wolf. The city is also now home to music mogul drama Empire (above), which has quickly become one of the break-out hits in US television.

Illinois faces stiff competition from other parts of North America that offer better filming incentives. The high-profile Young Adult franchise Divergent is set in a futuristic Chicago but relocated to Atlanta for Insurgent, the second movie of the franchise.

Illinois offers a 30% transferable tax credit on goods and services rented or purchased from local vendors, and on salaries paid to Illinois residents.

Chicago is an amazingly beautiful city. The variety of architecture is endless and the people who I had the pleasure of working with were very professional and kind.

Mandi Dillin, Assistant Location Manager on Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Climate

The Illinois climate is temperate. Average summer temperatures range from 21C in the north to 25C in the south, while average winter temperatures range from -6C in the north to 3C in the south, while also being very damp. The state gets an average 36 inches of rainfall a year, while the north gets about twice as much snow as the south.
May and June are the wettest months of the year. Flat plains are a typical feature of Illinois, which means the state gets about five tornadoes a year and there are around 50 days of thunderstorms every year.

  • Average daily daylight

  • Average daily sunlight

  • [s]