North Carolina has scored another major television production.
The Wilmington Regional Film Commission lists Under the Dome, a TV series based on a novel by Stephen King, as being in pre-production in Wilmington. Under the Dome is a science-fiction novel about people in a Maine town who suddenly find themselves sealed off from the rest of the world under a gigantic, transparent force field. The 1,072-page book follows the townspeople living in post-apocalyptic conditions, trying to deal with the consequences of being shut off from the rest of the world.
Executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, Under the Dome is scheduled to begin filming in Wilmington in February and will debut on CBS on June 24. According to CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler, promos of the show will air during the Super Bowl.
Showtime, a CBS subsidiary, had originally planned to air Under the Dome as a miniseries, but it was announced in November that the show would air as a 13-episode series on CBS instead.
No announcements about casting have been made.
Under the Dome isnt the only big game in the Port City. The freshman NBC series Revolution has been filming in and around Wilmington since July 2012.
Revolution explores society after the loss of electricity and all forms of technology, and like Under the Dome, has a strong post-apocalyptic vibe. Rick Porter, a TV critic for Zap2It.com, quipped during a panel discussion on Revolution at the winter meeting of television critics in California last week, Wilmington, N.C., apparently has a lot of abandoned stuff that works great on Revolution.
Revolution is in the middle of a midseason break but resumed filming last week. The seasons final 10 episodes begin on NBC on March 25.
Homeland, Banshee
On the other end of the state, Charlotte is host to Showtimes Homeland series, an award-winning TV drama about a CIA agents personal and professional relationship with a Marine POW, who may or may not be an al-Qaida terrorist. Homeland finished airing its second season in December, and a third season has been ordered.
Banshee, an HBO Films drama about a justice-seeking sheriff in a small Amish town, also films in Charlotte and debuted on Jan. 11 on Cinemax. Banshee is executive-produced by Alan Ball, who created the HBO series Six Feet Under and True Blood.
A number of small independent projects film in North Carolina each year, but the state hit the jackpot in 2011 and 2012 when it landed The Hunger Games and Iron Man 3, respectively. Hunger Games filmed in the Charlotte area and the North Carolina mountains, while the Iron Man sequel filmed all over southeastern North Carolina and even spent a week filming in the Triangle.
The eighth season of ABCs reality show The Bachelorette also filmed in Charlotte last year, as did many news programs and talk shows that visited the state during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.
Safe Haven
A film based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, Safe Haven, recently wrapped production in Wilmington and Southport. Were the Millers, a comedy starring Jennifer Anniston and Jason Sudeikis, also filmed in Wilmington in 2012.
Safe Haven is set for release on Feb. 14, and Were the Millers should hit theaters in August.
According to the governors office, film crews spent more than $376 million in North Carolina in 2012, and created about 20,000 job opportunities, including talent and background extra positions. Of those jobs, more than 4,100 were considered well-paid positions for skilled workforce. Filming took place in about a third of the states 100 counties.
Those figures beat 2011s then-record-breaking stats of pulling in $220 million in spending and 3,300 in skilled crew positions.














