On March 6, just weeks after learning the show had been picked up for a sixth season, the cast and crew of “One Tree Hill” set up shop at Wrightsville Beach’s Seapath Marina to begin filming episode 13 of season 5.
As a result of the 100-plus-day writers’ strike, the area has suffered in terms of production income, and now, with a looming actors’ strike hanging in the balance, Hollywood east is still not out of the woods.
Jane Beck, set costumer for “One Tree Hill,” said that she had a lot of faith that the show would be picked up for a sixth season based on its overall success, but feels lucky just the same to be part of an active production.
“I’m feeling tremendously blessed,” Beck said. “It is one of the CW’s highest rated shows, and since the actors are contracted for one more year, I had a lot of faith that we would be picked up again. There are just so many reasons to do it.”
With many teen dramas going down the destructive path of following their established characters to college, “One Tree Hill” took a different approach
Staff photo by Dana Hawley
Chad Michael Murray, center, and co-star Kieren Hutchinson rehearse a scene for episode No. 513 of “One Tree Hill,” for which the cast and crew filmed at Seapath Marina on Thursday, March 6. |
and fast-forwarded each character four years ahead — in seasons five and six, the show has relied on flashbacks to keep the audience up to speed.
Although the show is offering its viewing audience something different when compared to the majority of most teen dramas, the potential actors’ strike may still inhibit the forward motion of all production in the area, which may spell trouble for the film industry as a whole.
Wilmington regional film commissioner Johnny Griffin highlighted the fact that this year, the industry was plagued with three potential strikes — those of the writers, directors and the actors.
“The writers’ strike was the one that caused all the big news,” Griffin said. “The directors’ contract was not going to expire until June 30, and they went ahead and got in there and negotiated and got everything taken care of, so there were no issues there. The actors, on the other hand, their contract is set to expire on June 30, and they have not negotiated a new contract as of yet, so what that means for us is that all filming with actors has to be completed by sometime in June.”
New Hanover High school alumnus Don Payne, writer for “The Simpsons” in Los Angeles and feature films “The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” and “My Super Ex-Girlfriend,” said in a recent interview that production at this stage in the game is running a bit of damage control.
“There is definitely a rush on some projects to get things done before the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) contract expires at the end of June,” Payne said. “Some television series have tried to shoot mini-seasons for this spring, while other, more complex series such as ‘Heroes’ and ‘24’ will not be in production until later this year and back on the air next fall.”
Although big budget fi
