Further evidencing Louisiana’s rapid ascent as a top state for filmmaking in recent years, Baton Rouge has been named the No. 1 small city to live and work as a filmmaker in 2015. At No. 2 on the list by industry magazine MovieMaker is New Orleans.
Baton Rouge hosted over $200 million in film and television production in 2014, the magazine notes, including the filming of movies such as Fantastic Four, Pitch Perfect 2, The Final Girls, and TV shows such as NCIS: New Orleans.
“The Baton Rouge Film Commission often secures crew members and partners with the production to find local crews, keeping stipend spending down,” the magazine writes of Baton Rouge and its reasoning for placing it atop the list of film locations with populations between 100,000 and 400,000. “City-owned properties do not charge location fees—for example, the now vacant Women’s Hospital, owned by the city, has been used for several productions which only had to pay for security and utilities.”
The magazine also says Baton Rouge is home to numerous filmmaking facilities, specifically mentioning Celtic Media Centre—the largest studio of its kind in the state—and its expansive sound stages that range from 15,000 to 35,000 square feet.
“The center also holds a newly opened branch of equipment vendor Manhattan Beach Studios,” the magazine writes. “And there’s Renaissance Park, a four-story structure that [Baton Rouge Film Commission Executive Director Liza] Kelso said is ‘looking to house independent films and provide stage work,’ as it did in 2014 for Pitch Perfect 2.”
Read the full story and see the complete rankings online. The article and rankings will also appear in the print edition of the magazine, which will be distributed at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, later this month.
