Writer’s strike impacts NC film production

NORTH CAROLINA (WNCN) — Several movies and TV shows filmed in North Carolina over the last few decades.

This week’s Emmy nominations include Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon as Tammy Wynette and George Jones, respectively. The biopic about the powerhouse country music couple was filmed in North Carolina.

So was the “Eyes of Tammy Faye” for which Chastain won an Oscar. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri” was filmed in the North Carolina mountains. Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell both won acting Oscars for their roles in that film.

Those productions are just a tiny fraction of the projects filmed in North Carolina over several decades.

“What our next challenge is, is continuing to grow our workforce so that we can meet those demands of the additional projects that want to come in and film in the state,” said Guy Gaster with the North Carolina Film Office.

2022 was a solid year for the TV and movie industry. Filmmakers spent $258 million in our state. With that came 16,000 jobs, including 3,000 crew and talent positions. In total there were 74 film, TV and streaming projects in North Carolina.

Gaster said most of those employed are North Carolinians. Employment often extends even further into the local community.

“And then the local vendors and businesses that also serve the film industry and for which the film industry is a big customer, those groups are hiring additional people when filming is at its peak so that they can help meet those demands,” said Gaster. “And those are numbers that sometimes don’t get counted necessarily in our figures, but certainly are a major result of the film activity doing well in our state during those times.”

The current writer’s strike is having an effect on this year’s numbers, and the actor’s strike will add to that.

“We’ve seen a decrease in the overall amount of production that’s taking place in the state and until some of the labor relations issues are resolved it certainly is making a major production be at a crawl, if you will,” said Gaster.

The impact goes beyond the film project itself. It can also effect tourism.

“If you hit the right kind of project like a “Dirty Dancing”, like “Hunger Games”, where the project continues to live on with fans for years and years to come, [like] “One Tree Hill” down in Wilmington,” said Gaster. “Those are impacts that we can’t fully measure, but certainly see it and it continues to make a difference in those communities.”

Several North Carolina projects wrapped up before the current labor issues including: