Photo by NCinDC
Another day, another thing that the federal government shutdown is affecting.
The D.C. Office of Motion Picture & Television Development issued a press release earlier today saying that “due to the federal government shutdown, all public lands managed by the Interior Department (National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, Bureau of Land Management facilities, etc.) will be closed and unavailable for commercial filming until further notice.” This includes areas like The White House, the U.S. Capitol Building, the National Mall, the Washington Monument, and the surrounding Monuments.
Basically all the stuff that’s featured prominently on shows like, say, House of Cards. But never fear, House of Cards conveniently wrapped up its D.C. filming on Sunday and it all went down “without a hitch,” says D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development Senior Communications Manager Leslie Green.
Green also tells DCist that “there haven’t been any major film productions that have requested to film here yet,” and that they’re currently putting together alternate filming locations to accomodate them if they do want to film here.
But one production that could be affected by the shutdown? PBS’ In Performance at the White House. Green says that if “this whole debacle” doesn’t end by the end of the month, when the next episode is scheduled to film, it will be postponed. What’s more is that if this indeed does happen, it will be the second time this particular episode has been postponed. The last scheduled filming was rescheduled due to the Navy Yard shooting.
The episode is scheduled to tape at the White House on October 24 to 29, and will feature performances from Natalie Cole, Lila Downs, Gloria Estefan, Raul Malo, Ricky Martin, Prince Royce, Arturo Sandoval, Romeo Santos, Alejandro Sanz, and Marco Antonio Solis.