The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has approved a grant of up to $7.5 million for ABC’s television series Nashville. The reimbursable grant will be based on the production’s actual qualified expenditures, which are goods or services purchased from a Tennessee vendor or paid to a Tennessee resident in connection with the production.
Pre-production on the series is already underway with shooting scheduled to begin in mid-July in the Nashville area. More than 350 Tennessee residents are expected to be employed as part of the show’s crew. Music written and recorded locally will also be used in the series.
“We are taking a new approach to one of Tennessee’s strongest and most unique businesses, the entertainment industry,” said Commissioner Bill Hagerty, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. “Gov. Bill Haslam has made a concerted effort to fold the film and music sectors into our department and make them a part of the state’s regular economic goals and initiatives. The unique confluence of film and music that Nashville offers is central to our aim of highlighting Tennessee’s great strength as a center of creative excellence in the music industry. Additionally, the consistent employment afforded Tennesseans as a result of this multi-episode series will result in constructive training and talent development and longer term employment for Tennessee’s entertainment industry.”
ABC execs ordered the series after seeing the pilot episode, which also premiered in front of fans at the recent CMA Music Festival. The show is set to premiere this fall. The series is produced by Lionsgate, ABC Studios and Gaylord Entertainment.
Nashville stars Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights, American Horror Story) as country superstar Rayna James, and Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) as up-and-coming singer Juliette Barnes. Also starring in the series are Powers Boothe (MacGruber, 24), Eric Close (Chaos, Without a Trace) and Clare Bowen (General Hospital).
For more information on the show, visit www.facebook.com/NashvilleABC.
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Sarah Skates has worked in the music business for more than a decade and is a longtime contributor to MusicRow.View Author Profile
