BALTIMORE (January 11, 2011) - Gov. Martin O'Malley announced today that HBO will film a pilot episode in Maryland for an HBO series entitled VEEP. Filming starts in late February in Baltimore.
VEEP is a comedy set near the White House. Former Senator Melina Meyer finds being Vice President of the United States is nothing like she expected and everything everyone ever warned her about.
Julia-Louis Dreyfus, whose credits include Seinfeld and New Adventures of Old Christine, will star and is producing. The pilot will be directed by Armando Iannucci. He and Simon Blackwell wrote the script, and he, Chris Godsick and Frank Rich are executive producers. Iannucci previously wrote and directed In the Loop, a 2009 political satire, and The Thick of It, a British TV series.
"Maryland has had a long and successful relationship with HBO," said Gov. O'Malley. "We are pleased to welcome HBO back to our state for another first-class filming experience."
The Maryland Film Office estimates that the production could have an economic impact in excess of $6 million and could create more than 700 jobs for Maryland crew and actors while prepping and filming in the state.
Previous award-winning HBO productions that were filmed in Maryland include Shot in the Heart, Something the Lord Made, The Corner and The Wire.
Maryland's Film Production Rebate Fund helped to secure the HBO production. The fund offers a partial rebate for local production expenditures and encourages producers to use local film crews.
The Maryland Film Office, located in Baltimore and part of the Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts, is an agency of the state's Department of Business and Economic Development. It provides location scouting and pre-production research, in addition to acting as a government and community liaison throughout film production. For more information, visit www.MarylandFilm.org.
Source: MD Dept. of Business & Economic Development