"Dallas" Remake Approved To Shoot On County Property
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The upcoming remake of the hit CBS television show "Dallas" is already bringing in some big money for the Dallas area. It took film crews three months to shoot four episodes that will air on the TNT cable channel. According to the Dallas Film Commission, a production that lasts that long typically generates about $14 million for the local economy.
But one Dallas County commissioner is looking for more than just money.
Secrets, schemes, betrayals – that is the lure of the new "Dallas" series, which will take a new audience into the lives of a new generation of the Ewing family. Officials in Dallas are hoping that the show is profitable, like it was in the 1980s, but there is more at stake.
Commissioners Court Judge Clay Jenkins donned a cowboy hat in the style of J.R. Ewing on Tuesday when the court approved a request for the production to film on Dallas County property. He even shared the hat with Commissioner John Wiley Price.
Last year's filming took place on just city property. The newly approved request was for a much larger area of Dallas County.
Price is looking closely at the next generation series. Hundreds of people are expected to be hired as part of the production, according to the Dallas Film Commission, and Price is hoping that a fair share of minorities will be among the new jobs. "I just want to make sure that there is equity," Price said, "when you talk about whether it's in front of the camera in the profiling or it's behind the camera."
Jenkins, meanwhile, hopes that the new TV show portrays what Dallas is really like today, and not from the 1980s. "We're a lot more complex than the old show," he noted. "But we are excited to have the new show film here, and we hope they capture some of the reality of the modern Dallas."
The show is scheduled to premiere in the summer.
