Last summer’s top television series, the locally filmed Under the Dome, returns to CBS this summer (premiere Jun 30th) at 10 pm for Season 2. Filmed entirely in North Carolina’s Southeast region, Under the Dome is a television adaption of the popular Stephen King novel in which an entire town gets trapped under some sort of dome and is cut off from the rest of the world.
The show opted to film in North Carolina because of the state’s talented crew base, ability to look like “Anytown U.S.A.” and refundable tax credit offered to productions. During its first season of filming in 2013, the production had spent more than $33 million while creating 1500 job opportunities.
For season one, cast and crew made frequent trips to Burgaw and Southport from Wilmington to film scenes for the series. And with season two production in full swing, the trend continues. Mike Raad, a documentary filmmaker who lives in Burgaw, made a film about four-block radius that surrounds the Pender County courthouse in Burgaw it is a favorite of local productions. In a new short film he directed, Hometown Hollywood, traced 30 productions that have filmed in Burgaw, including Under the Dome, and found that all of them have used those four blocks because it offers the perfect canvas on which to film.
Southport simply being a stop along Dome’s production route has benefitted the popular tourist town. After seeing a tourism boost last summer when the series began airing its first season, Southport is already seeing similar effects this year.
