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Killer Serials

BURN NOTICE AND THE GLADES BRING SCRIPTED TV PRODUCTION BACK TO SOUTH FLORIDA

BY ELIZABETH RAHE

When a decapitated woman turns up in a muddy creek in the fictional town of Palm Glade, it signals the beginning of Jim Longworth's homicide investigation career in Florida. It also marks the premiere of The Glades (10 p.m., July 11), an A&E series about Longworth, a Chicago cop who moves to the Sunshine State for sunshine and golf, but finds beaucoup murders – at least one per episode – to keep him off the links. The show is filmed at locations in South Florida and in a studio created in a former Pembroke Park carpet warehouse.

It's the second Fox Television Studios series being shot in South Florida. USA Network's Burn Notice (Thursdays, 9 p.m.), cable TV's highly ranked drama about the adventures of a discredited spy, is based in the old Coconut Grove Expo Center. Its fourth season began June 3, and the network has ordered seasons five and six.

Not since Miami Vice in the '80s has a successful scripted series been shot here. (Some productions, including CSI Miami and Dexter, use South Florida scenic shots but are primarily filmed in Southern California.) Spurred by the area's film-friendly environment and state incentives, the productions are bringing the real South Florida into focus on the small screen.

BLUE SKIES AND HOT STUNTS STOKE BURN NOTICE

Burn Notice creator Matt Nix originally set his story in Newark, N.J., but USA Network convinced him to go for a blue-sky setting, like Miami. Resistant at first, Nix realized four pages into the script that down-and-out spy Michael Westen formed a contrast with the sunny setting. What brought the production to South Florida instead of, say, Southern California, was the state incentive program, which rewards producers for spending money in Florida.

"The fact that we ended up in Miami, shooting Miami for Miami, had everything to do with the incentives," he says.

It has turned out to be a fortuitous locale. Burn Notice is consistently ranked among the top cable shows. This season's opener, which had Westen dodging bullets in a South American jungle, scored 6.62 million viewers. (The jungle, by the way, was Miami's Monkey Jungle). From South Beach hotels to Coral Gables bungalows, industrial plants to marinas, South Florida has provided a rich source of settings for Nix and his team of writers.

"We can write anything and we will find some version of it in the area," Nix says, adding that South Florida is very production-friendly. "The fact that Miami is willing to let us blow up all the stuff we blow up and crash all those cars, and there are designated places to do that – that's really awesome."

Bruce Campbell, who plays Westen's right-hand man, Sam Axe, calls South Florida a collision of cultures, which makes it a perfect setting for Burn Notice plots. "We have weird characters from all over the world on the show – like a Russian operative from the '80s, Chechen rebels, Mexican bad guys. The show wouldn't work in Des Moines, Iowa."

Axe and the gun-toting, former IRA operative Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar), help Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) attempt to unravel why he was burned – or blacklisted – as they help average citizens solve problems via spycraft. This season adds Coby Bell as fellow burned spy Jesse Garcia. Sharon Gless of Cagney & Lacey fame plays Westen's manipulative but loving mother, Madeline.

Her scenes are often shot in the air-conditioned Coconut Grove studio, home to Madeline's bungalow and Michael's loft, but much of the show is produced on location, which presents some unique situations. For last season's finale, for instance, a scene had to be rewritten because the speeding boat would violate a canal's manatee protection zone. Then there's the heat.

"When you're standing on a rooftop in Fort Lauderdale surrounded by flaming helicopter parts, and it's 110 degrees and 100 percent humidity, and all of your leads are wearing suits, it looks good, but it's a challenge from that perspective."

The veteran crew is always up for the challenges, he says. "Because I got this crew that has done everything that has come through Miami, they're pitching me ideas. They know how to do all the stunts they did on Bad Boys."

Campbell calls the crew an eclectic weirdo family – "the kind you'd find at a family reunion: 'Oh there's Uncle Joe…He takes naps under the sycamore tree at 2 o'clock.' These people are really tight, an incredibly hard-working crew."

For Nix, another advantage to working in South Florida is the abundance of café Cubano. "I'm a total coffee addict," he says. "In Miami really good espresso is not a luxury; it's a basic human right."

UNDERCURRENT FLOWS THROUGH THE GLADES

Growing up in Hialeah, Clifton Campbell was a Boy Scout who spent a lot of time in the Everglades. When relatives came to visit, he noticed they went straight to the beach.

"I remember thinking that there's so much more to Florida. I understand going to the beach, but go to the Everglades. It's gorgeous. You'll see things there you'll never see again in your life."

It stands to reason, then, that the new cop murder-mystery series he created, The Glades, shows the other side of Florida. "We take more advantage of the off-the-beaten path locations and the people who populate those worlds."

Thus, there are episodes set in Ocala's horse-breeding world, along Everglades canals and in the town of Pahokee, home of the Muck Bowl football rivalry, where young men build speed and agility chasing rabbits in sugar-cane fields. Scenes are shot within 30 miles of home base, with area locales representing farther-off Florida.

Although the stories are written with a humorous touch, Campbell says, underneath that blue sky there's a primordial swamp – a juxtaposition that's mirrored in homicide detective Jim Longworth. "His investigation style is in your face, at times funny and to some extent totally disregarding procedure, but he captures the essence. Like the environment, there's something going on under the surface."

Australian actor Matt Passmore, who plays Longworth, is experiencing the area for the first time, traveling from beaches to high rises to sugar-cane fields. "All I knew about Florida before was Will Smith film clips and hot girls and great mojitos," he says on a break between scenes. "Our show gets to skip between the big city and swampy creepiness, which I personally am really getting off on."

Although the pilot was shot in the Clearwater/Tampa area, producers switched to Broward County for the series. "There is a little bit of learning curve that they are going through on the West Coast," Campbell says. "When you're under the pressure we're under, it's easier to go someplace that already gets what you're asking for."

The pressure has been intense: Producers began shooting April 27 for the July 11 premiere, with each episode being completed in seven days. The Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward Film Commission and the local community have been welcoming and helpful to the production, he says, especially in making arrangements for locations and traffic control.

One factor beyond control is the South Florida hurricane season. "A lot of the department heads have never been through a hurricane," Campbell says. "It will be very interesting if we have a heavy season."

Still, he plans to use the phenomenon to his advantage, at least as a story element. An episode will feature a killing spree triggered by the fear and anxiety churned up by a hurricane.

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