Slutty Teenage Bounty Hunters, Netflix’s new comedy series from Kathleen Jordan, Jenji Kohan and Tara Herrmann, will film in Atlanta, Georgia. The shoot is tentatively slated for July-October.
The news comes a month after Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos became the first top Hollywood executive to take a stand against Georgia’s May passage of a strict abortion law, saying that the streaming giant would “rethink our entire investment in Georgia” if legislation known as the “heartbeat bill” became state law.
The choice of Atlanta as a location had been made months before Georgia voted on the bill; it stems from the material as Jordan is from Atlanta.
The series had been in pre-production for awhile; Kohan posted an Instagram photo on March 2 from Atlanta where the Slutty Teenage Bounty Hunters team had been pre-scouting locations. (you can see it below)While the series will proceed with Atlanta as a filming location, the producers will be making a donation to The Autonomy Fund, a collection of non-profit organizations that support women’s right to choose, during the shoot there.
Created by Jordan, Slutty Teenage Bounty Hunters centers on 16-year-old fraternal twin sisters Sterling (Maddie Phillips) and Blair (Anjelica Better Fellini) Wesley, who after joining forces with a veteran bounty hunter Bowser Simmons (Kadeem Hardison), dive into the world of bail skipping baddies. Georgia’s “Heartbeat bill,” among the several that have passed state legislatures in recent months, would outlaw most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected — usually as early as six weeks, which sometimes is before a woman knows she’s pregnant. It is set to become law next year. “We have many women working on productions in Georgia, whose rights, along with millions of others, will be severely restricted by this law,” Sarandos said in his May 28 statement. “It’s why we will work with the ACLU and others to fight it in court. Given the legislation has not yet been implemented, we’ll continue to film there — while also supporting partners and artists who choose not to. Should it ever come into effect, we’d rethink our entire investment in Georgia.”
The ACLU, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood today filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia asking a judge to stop Georgia’s abortion bill from becoming law in January.
According to the Georgia Film office, current/recent projects filming in the state include five programs for Netflix: The Liberator, Christmas on the Square, Holidate, Season 2 of Insatiable and Season 3 of Ozark.
The bill’s passage last month comes as Georgia has become a vital production hub for the film and TV industries. The region known “Y’allywood” is responsible for more than 92,100 jobs and nearly $4.6 billion in total wages in the state, according to the MPAA. State officials said that for the fiscal year ending June 30 film and TV production generated $2.7 billion in direct spending.