Plenty of new ideas to keep film and TV production in Los Angeles have been floated in recent years, from increased tax incentives to streamlining the permit process. But if you’re a film or show trying to find a way to stay in Hollywood despite the rising costs, you might consider one neat trick that worked well for “Paradise“: ask Sterling K. Brown to insist on it.
“We had to be really methodical about how we were going to shoot this television show. Sterling and I both have young families and he was like, ‘Where’s it shooting?’ I said, ‘Los Angeles. I want it to be here,’” “Paradise” creator Dan Fogelman said at IndieWire’s Pass the Remote event, presented in partnership with Hulu, August 12. “[Brown] said, ‘I need to be in Los Angeles.’ I said, ‘Make sure you make that part of your demands. You’re Sterling. You’ll get it.’”
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Brown did, in fact, get it and the rest was history. When they joined IndieWire Awards Editor Marcus Jones for a conversation about the genre-bending “Paradise” at Vidiots Foundation in Los Angeles’s Eagle Rock neighborhood, it was the eve of the final shoot day of the Hulu hit’s upcoming Season 2. Brown and Fogelman’s commitment to filming the show in Los Angeles was a frequent topic, with both men emphasizing that any difficulties that come with shooting in the city are significantly outweighed by the benefits.
“There’s no real challenge. Everything about shooting in L.A. is better if your show can be set in L.A. The craftspeople are better. You have a larger community. It’s where we all live. The bad part is it’s just more expensive. It’s only about money,” Fogelman said. “You lose millions of dollars an episode on screen to pay for being in Los Angeles.”
Brown characterized the production exodus out of Los Angeles more bluntly, and noted that “Paradise” is doing its part by shooting on every studio lot in town.
“We’ve got to try to keep as much production here, so the people stay,” he said to applause. “It’s an expensive city. And it’s way too expensive a city to live and not work.”
“Paradise” could keep employing people in Los Angeles for years to come, as the show continues to build momentum with fans and critics alike. (A third season has not been formally greenlit yet, but plans are already in the works.) Brown and Fogelman are no strangers to passionate fan responses to their work, having had a highly successful six-year run together on “This Is Us.” But Brown noted that “Paradise” might have an even broader appeal than “This Is Us.”
“I’ll compare and contrast between ‘This Is Us’ [and ‘Paradise’],” Brown said. “‘This Is Us’ is like, ‘My girlfriend loves your show. My wife loves your show. Dude, my mom watches your show.’ Now dudes would be like, ‘Yo, I fucked with ‘Paradise,’ bro.’ Which is cool because I also knew they watched ‘This Is Us,’ they just had to couch it like it was their girlfriend.”
Both men teased that Season 2 sees “Paradise” going in even more ambitious directions, with Fogelman basking in the fun of making a show that continuously pushes itself to shock its audiences.
“I think there’s two types of shows, and they both really work for me right now,” Fogelman said. “And one is the kind which is your comfort food, where you’re just continually given a good quality version of that old-school comfortable meal that you want. And then there’s the shows that shake it up every year, and it’s a different show that gives similar kind of, hopefully edge of your seat, emotion, and that kind of stuff, but in a completely different way. So I’m excited by that challenge to tell our audience, ‘Okay, now here’s where we’re going. And it’s a little bit different.’”
Watch the full conversation with Brown and Fogelman in the video above.
