Why is Boston Legal set in Boston?

A

Aspiring Mogul

The TV series was filmed in California, as far as I know, but they based it on lawyers in Boston. I suppose they wanted to differentiate their work from LA Law, but is there any reason they put it in Boston, as opposed to New York or Philadelphia?

And the same can go for Hawaii Five-O - is it because they wanted an exotic locale? I'm asking because I want to know where to set my movie.
 
The creator got his J.D. from the Boston University School of Law.
His father was the hockey coach at Boston University. He was
raised in Belmont. He has based all his shows outside of Los Angeles
and five of the seven were based in Boston. Since "Boston Legal"
was a spin off of "The Practice" it was logical to keep it set in the
same city. His current show is set in Cincinnati.

Since "Hawaii Five-O" is a remake the title kind of forces it's location.

If you movie can be set anywhere - the location isn't essential to
the story - then it doesn't matter at all. You will shoot it where
ever it is cheapest to shoot and set it in any city you like. If the
location is essential to the story then that forces your choice, but
you will still shoot it where ever it's cheapest.
 
Mildly off topic rant...

Don't set films or TV shows in the south unless you are going to film there and use southern actors! No actor from LA who has had speech training, your southern accent is not good, it's TERRIBLE! It's like me setting a film in the Bronx and casting it with actors from Jackson Mississippi doing bad New York accents. I can't watch True Blood, I mean literally cannot force myself to watch it because of the god freaking awful southern accents.
 
Gonzo_Entertainment said:
Don't set films or TV shows in the south unless you are going to film there and use southern actors!
Click to expand...

Yeah! I know it will double your budgets, piss of actors who live in LA that can't go home after work every night and you'll have to pay for putting them up for months at a time, not have the infrastructure of southern California with various soundstages that can handle several productions, a plethora of qualified union crews to pick the best of the best working craftspeople....

But you know. Don't shoot in LA and claim it's somewhere else.

;) Just joshin' ya. The reason shows shoot in LA is mostly for costs. It's substantially cheaper for various personal and financial reasons that keep everything centralized in LA.

BOSTON LEGAL's storylines also were very informed by the Boston "Blue State" politics of conservatives vs. liberal points of view. It was also a continuation of THE PRACTICE, which was already set in Boston.
 
Every city in the world is different (rant about cultural homoginization saved for a later date). Pittsburgh is different than Philly or Erie. New York is different than Albany or Buffalo. You can use a city's character to flesh out the world of your series/story/etc. Or you could not; just make it generic enough that it could be set anywhere. It's just one of a million choices that you make while creating something.

I've never seen Boston Legal (lawyer drama not being my thing), so I don't know how Boston-y it is. But for example, take the works of Bryan Fuller. Dead Like Me is set in a largely unnamed city...but if you've ever been to Seattle, you recognize it (well, other than the sleeping in the cemetary on Dia de los Muertos...it's COLD in November!) It's not necessary to the story though, so it's in the background. Wonderfalls, however, cannot take place ANYWHERE except Niagara Falls...the setting is part of the story and is important in every episode. Finally, Pushing Daisies takes place in a city (not too far from the town of Coeur d'Coeurs) where the quirkiness and storybook nature ARE important to the story...but it doesn't actually exist in real life, so the city is never named.

An example from literature, Charles de Lint writes stories in a fictional city of Newford. Canadian readers tend to imagine it as in the US, and vice versa (it's that kind of place...recognizable but just a LITTLE BIT foreign). Again, the setting is very integrated with the stories, and you really get a sense of the spirit of the city (literally, actually).

How you use your setting is up to you. But bear in mind if you set somewhere you don't know, the locals will notice (a recent episode of Warehouse 13 was in Pittsburgh...they got the name of one of the bridges right, but the baseball stadium wrong. Also wrong: the idea that anyone would actually be there. Local baseball team kinda sucks!)
 
I know why they do it Sonny, but it's like Shooting a film set in London in LA. To people in LA the accents might sound fine, to people in New Hampshire the accents might sound fine. In London the reaction will be "Oh Christ, that's horrid, those Yanks think we sound like THAT!".

On another side note...
Nashville and Atlanta both have locals for all the unions (grip, camera, gaffer, etc...) a selection of rental houses with anything a major production would need, and a fairly strong acting community. Nashville gets a bit of film production (a couple major studio films a year), so it can certainly be done. A month after I used a local seedy motel for an establishing shot in my last film the whole place was taken over by a crew shooting the Nicole Kidman (Nashville resident) film.
 
Gonzo_Entertainment said:
I know why they do it Sonny, but it's like Shooting a film set in London in LA. To people in LA the accents might sound fine, to people in New Hampshire the accents might sound fine. In London the reaction will be "Oh Christ, that's horrid, those Yanks think we sound like THAT!".
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How do you feel about UK actors doing American accents in
productions?

Following the side note:
Movies and TV are being shot all over the states now - there are
excellent crews all over. Even though I’m in Los Angeles and don’t
like to see productions leave I am very happy to see so many cities
and states taking on projects.

There are dozens of movies set in Los Angeles that shoot in other
cities. Only locals will notice.

I think the main reason so many productions (especially TV) still
shoot here in Los Angeles is because most of the prodCo's are based
here as are many of the lead actors, producers and directors. They
love heading home after a shooting day rather than back to a hotel
or rented house. They like staying near their children and keeping
them in their local schools. Of course if a series is set in a specific
location then they shoot there.


“Boston Legal” does not need Boston to tell the stories. Nor did “The
Practice”. Most of the exteriors were shot on the Universal and Warner
back lot. But the show creator/runner/writer is from the area so he
has places most of his shows there. Only Kelley can fully answer the
“why” but we can all assume it’s because that’s he loves the area. His
writing hasn’t changes in his latest, Cincinnati based series.
 
It certainly CAN be done well. To your point Rik, the Brits (and Australians) do seem to do a pretty good "generic" American accent for some reason.

Horrid, awful (see True Blood, but many other examples) southern accents are just a pet peeve. It seems to be the most brutalized accent lately. Walking Dead is another offender. Not a person in that series sounds like they are from within 1000 miles of Atlanta.
 
Hawaii Five-O is filmed in Hawaii. I saw an interview with one of the actors. He said he was happy to get the job since he moved his family there when he was on Lost.
 
Gonzo_Entertainment said:
It certainly CAN be done well. To your point Rik, the Brits (and Australians) do seem to do a pretty good "generic" American accent for some reason.
Click to expand...

The generic American accent is vaguely mid-west-ish...no matter where the character is from. We're talking regular BBC broadcast vs. film here.

Also of note: BBC English is not how most people talk; it's meant to be a sort of "average" of UK speech (or at least, that was my understanding, feel free to correct me here). So maybe it's just BBC actors are more practiced in adopting an accent? I dunno.

...but lots of planets have a North...
 
I agree the character of the city is important. But legal dramas, as far as I know, can take place anywhere, unless you want to use the character of London, NY, and other major distinctive cities.

If I was to do a legal show, I would set it in an American city as opposed to a Canadian city. What're your thoughts on that, everyone?
 
Personally I like movies and shows set in less common places. To many are set in L.A. New York, Chicago etc. Especially L.A. for movies. It gets kind of tiring having the same place over and over.
 
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