The Saddleridge fire, which broke out in Sylmar on Thursday night, has caused major road closures, halting at least six productions.
California’s latest wildfire is impacting Hollywood productions.
The Saddleridge fire, which broke out in Sylmar near the 210 freeway Thursday night, has caused ABC’s Bless This Mess, NBC’s Perfect Harmony and Freeform’s Good Trouble to shut down production Friday (Oct. 11). Party of Five, SWAT, LA’s Finest and Penny Dreadful: City of Angels also called off filming. The fire has already burned more than 4,700 acres and destroyed 25 homes in the San Fernando Valley.
Bless This Mess, starring Dax Shepard and Lake Bell, and The Fosters spinoff Good Trouble were both set to film in Santa Clarita, and Perfect Harmony was scheduled to be in Chatsworth this morning — but because of highway closures as a result of the raging fire, the filming areas were no longer accessible to cast and crew. In addition, public safety personnel are cautioning against traveling in the region.
Others projects have been affected by the fire, too. According to the California Film Commission, Showtime’s Homeland was supposed to film on the 118 freeway today but selected an alternate location instead and Warner Bros.’ movie The Little Things had been set to film on the 5 and 14 freeway HOV connectors today and tomorrow.
A spokesperson for the Santa Clarita film office confirmed its filming cancellations, adding that a car commercial also had to shift production this morning due to the fire. While air quality has often been a problem in the past, the commission’s representative noted that though it’s been windy, it hasn’t been smokey in the area — and that the reason for the production shutdowns today is mainly freeway accessibility.
An adviser in the Ventura County film office, for their part, said that no productions have shut down today. They did note that with the wind event and Edison power shutdowns in place ahead of the fires, productions had already pushed back filming, though they weren’t able to name the projects.
A representative for FilmL.A., the organization that oversees film permitting all the way up to the Palmdale-Lancaster regions, said that no productions have been impacted within its purview but that it will continue to monitor the situation. FilmL.A. handles filming requests for Stevenson Ranch, which has been a popular destination for TV shows and films including Weeds and Pleasantville.
The Saddleridge fire, which is burning at a rate of roughly 800 acres per hour, has brought on several school and road closures. The latter includes the 210 freeway in both directions between the 118 and 5 freeways, the 5 freeway between Roxford St. and Calgrove Blvd., the Southbound 14 freeway at the Newhall Pass, the Northbound 405 freeway at the 118 freeway and various surface streets in Sylmar, Granada Hills and Porter Ranch.
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