OKC Starring in TNT's "Grace"

[HOT ROD]

We can't force cameramen and grips and lighting technicians to move here and wait around for the occasional project. We have to train our own residents as students in this field and hope some of them stick around permanently. We are getting better in this area. OKCCC and OCU have growing film departments, and other schools like OU and OBU offer programs in video beyond just Broadcast News. Hollywood producer Gray Fredrickson moved here and set up a production company.

The fact is that they would have to relocate industry professional here indefinitely to shoot the show, and it's just rare that a show will do that. Like I said, even ER doesn't shoot in Chicago.

And Grey's Anatomy does NOT shoot in Seattle (although they did do a recent episode completely on location in Seattle and Washington - but that was just ONE episode).

Like I said, if they use anything from Vancouver that will show OKC as a positive urban area. Those of you who watched the film Fireside (??) or whatever it was with Harrison Ford? And it says Seattle and shows the Space Needle and a big city skyline... Well, the film was shot exclusively in Vancouver and the skyline you saw was Vancouver's with the Space Needle computer generated.

All of the streetscapes, skyscrapers, ect. were done in downtown Vancouver (aside from the country scenes, which were done in rural BC). This is true for many movies and TV shows, because downtown Vancouver is so damn urban - it can stand in for NY, SEA, SF, Asian cities like HK, Chicago - just computer insert a landmark or two like Sears or ESB and remove the mountains - and you're in Chicago or New York.

Im sure we all want downtown OKC to have that Vancouver big city character, especially on a TV show set - who cares if they insert in a SONIC or Cattleman's, just as long as they use Vancouver's urban fabric - it will get the message that OKC is more than just sprawl suburbs. And hopefully downtown will continue to move in Vancouver's direction anyways!!!!!

[dismayed]

Yeah, Vancouver is cool. Lots of TV shows are filmed there... Smallville, The X-Files, Dark Angel, Stargate SG-1, Battlestar Gallactica (what do you know, OKC and Caprica may have something in common... wonder if we will see a Cylon or two running around our downtown), the old MacGyver TV show, House, Dead Like Me, etc.

[traxx]

We can't force cameramen and grips and lighting technicians to move here and wait around for the occasional project. We have to train our own residents as students in this field and hope some of them stick around permanently. We are getting better in this area. OKCCC and OCU have growing film departments, and other schools like OU and OBU offer programs in video beyond just Broadcast News. Hollywood producer Gray Fredrickson moved here and set up a production company.

The fact is that they would have to relocate industry professional here indefinitely to shoot the show, and it's just rare that a show will do that. Like I said, even ER doesn't shoot in Chicago.

Exactly, and as I read in the early 90s when this whole thing started that that was the goal. Almost 15 years later and we still haven't developed any homegrown techs that have stuck around the area. I'm not asking that we become another hollywood but I'd at least like to see that when a show is set in Oklahoma that they would shoot here and use local techs. I hate seeing a show about Oklahoma shot elsewhere. They have plenty of industry professionals in places like Dallas and Austin to shoot on location there, what's wrong with asking that we could do the same. I don't think we're all that different from an Austin, we can do it. And it seems to me that we've had enough time to do this. Time, to me now, is just an excuse.

[jbrown84]

We can have a movie industry on the level of Dallas and Austin, but it's very rare that a TV show shoots anywhere besides LA or Vancouver.

[animeGhost]

getting the film industry here is a hard thing to do... even if we do have programs and schools with filmography classes and video tech classes there are currently no jobs to keep those ppl here with.

[jbrown84]

Not NO jobs, just very few relative to LA, Vancouver, NYC, even Dallas and Austin.

[traxx]

Not NO jobs, just very few relative to LA, Vancouver, NYC, even Dallas and Austin.

That's what I'm saying, Dallas and Austin had to start somewhere. It didn't just happen. I realize it's the whole "chicken and the egg" thing, but if both sides work together we can have the techs as well as the work for them to do instead of one waiting on the other.

[metro]

getting the film industry here is a hard thing to do... even if we do have programs and schools with filmography classes and video tech classes there are currently no jobs to keep those ppl here with.

that's not true, I'm working on my 3rd movie here in OKC now and I have barely even tried to get the work. There are all sorts of film companies here and talent agencies. if you make a little effort you can find the work, just as someone said its not as abundant and you can't pick and choose as much as you could in L.A.

[jbrown84]

from thefutoncritic.com:

Over on TNT, the Holly Hunter-led "Saving Grace" is set to debut on Wednesday, July 18 at 10:00/9:00c.

[writerranger]

from thefutoncritic.com:

Over on TNT, the Holly Hunter-led "Saving Grace" is set to debut on Wednesday, July 18 at 10:00/9:00c.

I was wondering whatever happened to that. TNT now has a site up for the show as well...
Saving Grace on TNT

Grace Hanadarko?

-------------------------------

[metro]

Looks like it will reinforce that hick image of Oklahoma. Did you see the pictures of the other cops/detectives? One is an indian and the other is a cowboy. Some of the pictures I saw on the site showed cow pastures, etc. No pictures looked urban in nature whatsover.

[BDP]

No pictures looked urban in nature whatsover.

Well, why would anyone set a show in Oklahoma if they wanted an urban atmosphere? I know and you know there are urban elements in Oklahoma, but no where near the amount found in dozens of other cities that would be a more suitable setting for urban fiction. You could probably film an urban set film in Oklahoma if you placed the camera right, but I don't see any story about urban lifestyles being set in Oklahoma any time soon, even if parts of it were to be filmed here.

[y_h]

Grace Hanadarko?

-------------------------------

Not to mention Bobby Stillwater and Butch Ada. I guess future characters will include Duke McAllister, Tom Edmond, Enid Norman and Wewoka Johnson. And I presume Wayne Shattuck will get a cameo as well.

[scotplum]

LOL, they have an OU Sooners banner in one of the images!

[kevinpate]

> I always wondered when Hollywood would even reference the bombing.

Multiple references have been popping up for sometime now in episodes of the various Law & Order and CSI franchises as well as the movies noted above.

It's not something I track but it's still rare enough that it catches my ear rather than sliding out the other one when it does happen.

[Nixon7]

I wonder how successful this will be.

[Misty]

I'd like to see one of the characters live on Garth Brooks Blvd. in Yukon and have them frequently show the "Welcome to Yukon, Home of Garth Brooks" sign.

[y_h]

I'd like to see one of the characters live on Garth Brooks Blvd. in Yukon and have them frequently show the "Welcome to Yukon, Home of Garth Brooks" sign.

I'm sure that will make it into one of the episodes - perhaps the one where someone strikes oil or maybe the episode when the tornado hits.

[Misty]

I wonder if Gary England will have a cameo????? DOPPLER 9000!

[kevinpate]

Looking over the TNT site, I find myself holding out high hopes for this project. I happen to like the work of Hunter and Giacomo and also the roles I have seen for Cruz. Might turn out to be fun at that.

[kevinpate]

> wonder if Gary England will have a cameo?

I can see it now, Hunter slides into a bar, England's on the tv just off the right shoulder of the barkeep, talking background level about how how it's time to 'jump back' right as Hunter and Cruz roust the three seedies sitting near passed out at the bar, while "up against the wall" is playing on the jukebox.

Cue the Angel, smiling through his chaw, and ..... cut to Tom parks, hawking cars that look like unmarked police cruisers for the 1st of 4 in this break.

[CCOKC]

I have been watching the NBA playoffs on TNT and they are promoting this show pretty heavily. The only problem is I see about 3 seconds of the ad and it cuts to a local ad. I think I say a TVM symbol in the corner of the ad though. Looks like it is strictly adult viewing. My husband and children are in Boise ID and say they see the promo almost every break and are quite sick of it. I don't know why they get to see the ad and we don't but one thing I noticed when I lived there was that they just didn't have as many local TV ads as we do.

[jbrown84]

The OU pennant looks so obligatory.

[CMSturgeon]

So, is it cancelled yet?

[Spartan]

LOL, they have an OU Sooners banner in one of the images!

And she has a football on her desk and a Pistol Pete bobble head on her file cabinet in one of the photos.