The Deep End, which is about first-year lawyers at a firm in the midst of a power struggle, stars some familiar actors, such as Billy Zane and Clancy Brown. But its biggest acting challenge may be getting the Fort Worth-Dallas area to stand in for Los Angeles.
After ABC gave that version the green light, production moved to Fort Worth-Dallas and the Studios, where local craft workers re-created the original set. Although exteriors are a little more tricky, a show spokeswoman said that interiors of Fort Worth restaurants and bars are similar enough to Los Angeles establishments to pass for L.A., and that even portions of the skyline are similar. Show producer Garry Brown, who was also instrumental in two seasons of Prison Break shooting in Fort Worth-Dallas and who has a local industry history that dates toWalker, Texas Ranger, is the North Texas link. Hudgins has praised local crews and lobbied the Texas Legislature for financial incentives for TV producers and filmmakers to work here. (Another upcoming show, Fox’s cop comedy-drama Code 58, will also film in Fort Worth-Dallas.)
Home away from home
The actors and director Busfield sound pretty happy about being here.
"My great-grandfather was the sheriff of Tarrant County in the late 1800s up to 1926," he tells a couple of local reporters during a break. "My grandmother is from out in the, I guess it was the Saginaw area, out where the Bell Helicopter factories used to be." Busfield also has family connections in Fort Worth-Dallas — and his aunt and cousin are on set with him on this day.
