'Blanco County' coming to USA network?

Ben Rehder                                   Rob Thomas

Austin novelist Ben Rehder's series of mysteries is in development as a TV series called Blanco County at the USA Network. And that's not the end of the Texas connection--Rob Thomas of Veronica Mars fame has been hired as the showrunner/writer and is executive producer along with Tom Welling (Smallville's Clark Kent).

Thomas, who went to high school in San Marcos and taught high school journalism in Austin, moved back to the Capital City a few years ago. Rehder says the two didn't meet in person until after Thomas had signed on to the project.  A pilot has already been penned. Now it's up to USA to give the series a thumbs up or down.

Blanco County is based on Rehder's six comic novels (he cites Carl Hiassen as his inspiration)  and "follows the story of John Marlin, a worldly pro baseball player who would rather spend his down time traveling the world than return to his small Texas hometown. After the death of his father, Marlin returns home to find a lot has changed since he left. The place is now booming with rich ranchers and tourists and there’s an uneasy alliance between the locals and the nouveau rich. Believing the local cops to be inept, Marlin runs for sheriff and surprisingly wins. A man who spent his entire life running away from his roots must now adapt to a new way of life." In the novels, Marlin is instead a game warden.

Will the show shoot in Central Texas if picked up to series?

"One big reason Rob was interested is because of the possibility of shooting here," Rehder says. "I don't know what the odds are, but I know that's what Rob would prefer."

NBC's 'Revolution' moving production to Austin

FYI: Also see this over at The Dallas Morning News.

NBC series Revolution is on the verge of moving its production from North Carolina to Austin this summer.

“We have been working with them for several weeks, and that it certainly looks good from all indications--including the news out of Wilmington,” said Gary Bond, head of the Austin Film Commission. “But still we have received no official word from the production execs.”

According to a report in the Wilmington Star-News, citing a letter from show creator Eric Kripke to the show’s crew, production could begin in Austin by July. 

Bond said the show would bring about 300 crew jobs to Austin.

This follows news that ABC has picked up to series the San Antonio-set Texas Rangers drama Killer Woman. The pilot shot in Austin and the series is likely to as well, Bond said.

Revolution is set in a future where electricity no longer works. A need for new locations has been cited as a potential reason for the move, but the state’s legislature has looked at ending its filming incentives program, which could be a factor. 

Austin television news isn’t all positive. ABC family’s series shot its first two seasons there, but the network has delayed word on a third season pickup until June at the earliest.

The Lying Game shot its first two seasons there, but the network has delayed word on a third season pickup until June at the earliest.

'Lying Game' does the limbo

We gave you the (potential) Austin TV good news from ABC  regarding Killer Women making it to series. Now here's the bad news: ABC Family is leaving Austin-shot The Lying Game in limbo about a third-season shoot. The final word won't come until into the summer. The catch is many of the cast may have vamoosed by then. It doesn't look good for the show...

ABC picks up 'Killer Women' to series

ABC has officially picked up Killer Women, the saga of a female Texas Ranger, as a series. The show is set in San Antonio, but the pilot was shot in Austin. I'm betting it returns to Texas for the series, but no word on that yet. Stay tuned.

Read more about the show here.

Fourth 'Transformers' film to shoot in Texas in June

My report appears in today's Dallas Morning News. It's behind a pay wall, so here it is in its entirety for you.

BY JOE O’CONNELL

Special to The Dallas Morning News

Michael Bay’s fourth big-budget Transformers film will shoot in the Austin area in June, bringing with it requisite car chases, robots and plenty of explosions.

The Austin Film Commission confirmed 3-4 weeks of filming in the small towns of Lockhart, Taylor, Elgin and Pflugerville. 

A Taylor bridge over the railroad awaits a robot siege.

A large Austin production office opened in March, but location scouting dates back to last November. There was initial interest in the Circuit of the Americas racetrack southeast of Austin, but instead the Austin Film Commission says the focus is on small towns that reminded Bay of Robert Frank’s 1950s photos collected in the classic book The Americans.

In Taylor, 30 minutes from Austin, a police chase will close downtown and a railroad overpass, said Deby Lannen, the city’s Main Street program manager. A car will be exploded in the city’s Robinson Park. “It’s pretty exciting,” she said.

“I know there will be things exploded in Taylor for sure. Some will be physical effects, some CGI,” said Gary Bond, head of the Austin Film Commission.

Lockhart’s Caldwell County Courthouse square will be another filming location, with Taylor and Lockhart combined into one fiction town on screen. Robots will chase down the good guys throughout Central Texas including in Elgin.

The bulk of the untitled movie is expected to lens overseas in China, where a reality television show will cast some roles. According to the web site ReelChicago, shooting will begin in Chicago in July, presumably after Texas filming ends. The Detroit Free-Press in March reported approval of $20 million in filming incentives on $81.9 million in anticipated spending there.

The first three Transformers films grossed $2.6 billion worldwide with the budget for the last two both in the $200 million range. 

No plot has been released for the film, but Mark Wahlberg will star along with Jack Reynor and Nicola Peltz. Wahlberg’s good-guy character’s home will be a farmhouse in Pflugerville. Bay has previously said the film will take a different direction with many new actors.

Bay's production company Platinum Dunes has a history of filming in Central Texas, including 2003's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its 2006 sequel, plus 2007's The Hitcher. 

The latest Transformers film is set for release in June 2014.

Michigan throws $20 million at 'Transformers 4'

You read it here last December that Michael Bay and company are expected to come to Austin to shoot part of Transformers 4. Now comes word that Michigan is offering $20 million in incentives if $81.9 million is spent in that film-hungry state. What's more amazing this is part of a "reduction" in film incentive spending in the state, which is still tossing around $120 million a year.

Meanwhile, don't count out my earlier claim about a shoot in Austin. As the article states, "Michigan will be one of several locations for the film." Stay tuned.

The film's crew is apparently looking at the GM plant as a location.  Oh, and the Michigan film folk revealed some Transformers Quatro plot details before Bay turned around and denied everything. Imagine that...

Scenes from San Antonio

San Antonio Elvis

We stopped in San Antonio and soaked up the culture. See the full set of photos here.

Wrestling

Traveling salesman