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HBO's The Wire producers think they might have inadvertently killed the Baltimore film industry due to the same kind of politics the show was about
The Wire showrunners recall the difficulties they had with Baltimore’s government and how their show may have ended the city’s film industry
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The Wire was a powerful show. While the series struggled with ratings during its original run, it was a favorite of critics, and developed a cult following that only grew after its 2008 cancellation. However, the show was also powerful in other ways. According to two of the showrunners, The Wire might be responsible for the downfall of Baltimore’s film industry.
“It was easy the first season because we were mostly filming in abandoned row houses where there was really nobody to ask permission, even if we wanted to,” executive producer Nina Kostroff Noble says during a 2014 PaleyFest panel. “We would look around for homeowners, but often it was just a matter of taking down the boards and going in and filming.”
“In the second season, David [Simon] and Ed [Burns] came up with the story of the port, and we went to the port, and we said we want to do this story about these women in a can that come up dead. And they said, ‘No, thank you. We really don’t want to be involved in that. Thanks anyway.’ So, that was a new experience for us.”
Noble notes that Baltimore’s local politicians began pushing back on them. City officials found the production to be disruptive and didn’t always like the way the show portrayed Baltimore.
“There are politicians in Baltimore that still haven’t gotten over it. In fact, the entire film industry in Baltimore kind of collapsed because of us,” Noble says .
“We probably contributed in some way,” series co-creator David Simon says. “The guy who became governor, who felt a particular animus to the show, when the chips were down in 2008 and he had to cut his budget, one of the things he cut was the film incentives. If you know anything about how the film industry works, a lot of business left Maryland. I couldn’t help but think it was such a bad decision, because you don’t get a tax giveback until you’re paying in. You’re not giving anything out if it’s not a percentage of everything that’s coming in. It was such a terrible decision, but he was extremely about The Wire.”
If you’re curious, the governor in question was Martin O’Malley. Some television productions battle studio executives or problematic actors, but The Wire was taking on real life government politicians. Some shows are just built different.
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