Chicago Movie Locations

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Society & Culture, Education, Public, Chicago, Arts, City, Radio, Curious, Investigation

4.8 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2021

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chicago has served as the backdrop for blockbuster films like “The Blues Brothers,” “The Dark Knight,” and “The Break-Up.” But just when did Chicago, sometimes referred to as the “Hollywood of the Midwest,” first become a go-to location for film and TV producers? The answer goes all the way back to the silent film era of the early 1900s when the Essanay Film Manufacturing Co. produced thousands of films from 1907 to 1917 and William Foster debuted “The Railroad Porter” in 1913. Productions shot on location in Chicago ebbed and flowed in the years that followed as Hollywood became a film and television hub. But as of September 2021, a record 15 TV shows were filming here. And with so many things being filmed here, we get asked a lot of questions about what makes certain locations popular for movie shoots? Matt Sigur tracks down some answers for us.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Curious City Editor Alexandra Solomon.
0:02.7	So I'm sure a lot of you have had this experience.
0:06.0	You're walking on the street.
0:07.1	You notice a slew of large trailer trucks parked along the road.
0:11.5	Lots of people with walkie-talkies, huge lighting rigs, some kind of food truck.
0:17.3	Yep, clearly they're filming something.
0:20.5	And you kind of stand there in awe because you know somehow this actual place that you can see
0:26.9	is going to be completely transformed into something totally different when it appears on screen.
0:32.3	And it kind of gives you a sense of pride.
0:34.3	They're filming in your neighborhood, maybe even on your block, and that people
0:39.1	all over the country and beyond will get to see it. Chicago's now home to numerous TV series
0:45.6	and a regular go-to locale for movie makers. But it wasn't always that way. You see, for years,
0:51.4	decades even, not a whole lot was being shot on location here.
0:55.6	So why did Chicago see such a long dry spell?
0:59.0	And these days, why are some calling Chicago the Hollywood of the Midwest?
1:03.2	That plus, we'll tell you about several spots around the city where directors love to film.
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