Mayors, governor, NBC confirm: TV series 'Bluff City Law' to be filmed in Memphis

The NBC television network and state and local officials confirmed Tuesday that the Memphis-set legal drama "Bluff City Law" will shoot its first season in its namesake location.

As reported Monday in The Commercial Appeal, the program is scheduled to begin filming here in July. The show will air Monday nights, with the debut episode set for September.

A joint press release issued Tuesday afternoon from the offices of Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said $4.25 million in financial incentives were found for the production.

These incentives include $2.5 million in subsidies from the state of Tennessee, $1.4 million through EDGE (the city/county Economic Development Growth Engine, an agency that coordinates resources for many projects), and $350,000 from Memphis Tourism.

The monies are being found through various creative means. For example, the $350,000 will be included as an item in Memphis Tourism's $16 million budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins in July, just before "Bluff City Law" begins shooting.

Memphis Tourism president Kevin Kane said that in return, the tourism office will be granted access to the NBC program's "digital assets," meaning it will be able to use some images from the series to promote Memphis.

"We feel this is going to be tremendous return on our investment," said Kane, pointing out that once "Bluff City Law" begins to air, an hour (minus commercials) of made-in-Memphis footage will be watched each week by millions of potential tourists.

"We've never really had this opportunity before," Kane said. "As much as we loved 'Sun Records' (the made-in-Memphis CMT 2017 series about the birth of rock 'n roll), that was set in the 1950s. 'Bluff City Law' will show Memphis today."

Kane is among those quoted in Tuesday's press release, along with Strickland, Harris, Gov. Bill Lee, Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commissioner Linn Sitler, Tennessee Entertainment Commission executive director Bob Raines and EDGE president Reid Dulberger, each of whom touts "Bluff City Law" as a boon to Memphis, both economically and promotionally. 

"The show will mean hundreds of jobs for Memphis film production crews and increased revenues for local business," Dulberger said, in the release. "It will also be a great advertising tool for the community."

Sitler said landing "Bluff City Law" was "the highlight of our history as a film and television city."

According to Sitler, NBC estimates it will spend $55 million in Memphis during the July-October production of the series' first ten episodes, an amount that is by far the most spent in the city on any single film or television project.

Anticipation that "Bluff City Law" would be based in Memphis has run high since May, when NBCUniversal announced that it wanted a season of the show for 2019-2020, based on the company's satisfaction with a pilot episode that was produced in March.

Because financial incentives for film production in Georgia are much more generous than in Tennessee, Atlanta was a possible location for the show. To remain in Memphis, producers originally sought amounts from $18 million to $10 million above the state and local incentives already available for film production here.

Local officials — already stung by such set-in-Memphis but not made-in-Memphis productions as "Memphis Heat" and "The Blind Side" — were eager to keep the program here. The fact that they succeeded while providing incentives of just over $4 million suggests the deal is something of a good faith gesture on the part of both filmmakers and Memphis. Local officials worked diligently to find funding for the show; meanwhile, the "Bluff City Law" creators demonstrated that they are sincere in their enthusiasm for Memphis, as a filming location and as a source of inspiration for stories about lawyers who champion the human rights of underdog clients.

Also, it's likely the production company accepted the lesser deal as something of a good faith gesture, on the part of both NBCUniversal and local 

More:Here are some Memphis gems we'd like to see in 'Bluff City Law'

NBC provided this synopsis of the series:

"Coming from a famous Memphis family known for taking on injustice, brilliant lawyer Sydney Strait used to work at her father Elijah’s celebrated law firm until their tumultuous relationship got in the way. After barely speaking to him for years, Sydney is suddenly thrust back into the family fold when her philanthropist mother passes away unexpectedly. In the wake of her loss, hoping to reconnect with the daughter he loves, Elijah asks Sydney to rejoin his firm. She agrees because despite her lingering resentment and distrust, she knows that working alongside her father is her best hope at changing the world… if they can ever get along."

Television veteran Jimmy Smits stars as Elijah Strait, while Caitlin McGee is daughter Sydney.

Produced for NBC by Universal Television in association with David Janollari Entertainment, the "Bluff City Law" episodes will be written by Dean Georgaris, the show's co-creator and executive producer along with Michael Aguilar. 

Earlier NBC publicity has described Strait as a "civil rights" lawyer, but "Bluff City Law" storylines won't all focus explicitly on the issues of race commonly associated with that term. The pilot episode, for example, concerns a family's battle with an agricultural chemical company.