Creator: ‘Breakout Kings’ moving production to Baton Rouge

The Baton Rouge entertainment industry has reached one of its major goals by bringing in production of a television series. The hit A&E show Breakout Kings will start filming its second season locally in mid-October. Nick Santora, one of the co-creators of the show, confirmed on his Twitter account that Breakout Kings will shift production from Toronto to Baton Rouge. The drama about ex-cons teaming up with U.S. Marshals to catch criminals will film on soundstages in the Celtic Media Centre and on location around Baton Rouge. Santora even Tweeted photos he shot at Angola while scouting locations there earlier this summer. Breakout Kings debuted in March and had 2.8 million viewers for the first episode, a record for an original A&E drama series. The second 10-episode season of Breakout Kings will begin airing in 2012. For years local film industry officials had said bringing in a television series was a goal, given that production on a series is a long-lasting boon, unlike that of a movie, which may only shoot for a few weeks. Chris Stelly, interim director of Louisiana Entertainment, says he cannot confirm or deny that Breakout Kings is moving production to Baton Rouge, though he did say the series is very interested in filming in Louisiana. —Timothy Boone