New Orleans resumes filming and permits after Hurricane Ida

The mayor of New Orleans and New Orleans Film Office has revealed that filming in the city and the issuance of film permits will commence again on 27 Sept 2021. This comes following the shut down of productions due to the catastrophic Hurricane Ida.

Prior to the hurricane hitting, the city was hosting a record amount of film productions. The slate of projects includes, Netflix's film We Have a Ghost, Disney’s UltraViolet and the Black Scorpion and feature film Haunted Mansion. As well as an AMC series Interview with a Vampire, NBC/Universal’s feature film Renfield and series The Thing About Pam, NBC’s film Killing It, Epix’s Voodoo Project, and the Apple TV series Hans Bubby.

The Netflix film The Killers, starring Michael Fassbender, is also slated to begin filming in the city in late autumn.

“We are so fortunate to have full restoration of electricity and to have experienced minimal flooding due to the city’s new state-of-the-art levee system which has allowed every one of the productions to return to New Orleans,” said Carroll Morton, director of Film New Orleans.

New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell added, “The amount of film productions with large budgets we have hosted over the last three years has served to solidify the city as the fourth major production hub in the country. Despite the pandemic, and storm events, 2021 has been a record-breaking year for film with the city hosting $753m in production in the first three quarters. My administration is committed to bolstering our local economy and continuing to lead with a long-term vision for development of the film industry beyond the initial recovery, which includes business attraction efforts for film infrastructure and producing workforce training programs."

She adds, "One of these programs was funded by the Louisiana Entertainment Division, which provided the New Orleans Video Access Center with its first-ever award of $225,000 for workforce training from the Louisiana Entertainment Fund. This is funded by a 2% contribution from film tax credits awarded to productions and goes directly to supporting workers. As we continue to move forward with more innovative approaches and cultivating our relationships with the Film industry and its workers, everyone will see that New Orleans is a world-class place in which to do business.”

However, the New Orleans Film Office’s partnership with NOVAC where they offer entry-level workforce development training opportunities will not resume yet, but is hoping to start them up again over the next month.

The city has become an attractive filming destination on account of its architecture, locations, local culture, film studios, talent, film-related businesses and 2,000 union crew base.  As of August, 100 film, television and documentary projects have spent $753m in the New Orleans region.