By SHOOT Staff

Better Call Saul’s Last Season Lenses In New Mexico
AMC’s acclaimed  series Better Call Saul, produced by Sony Pictures Television, began production last month on the sixth and final 13-episode season.

Better Call Saul will employ over 400 New Mexico crew members, over 150 New Mexico principal actors and over 1,500 background talent.

“We are both sad and thrilled to welcome the team of Better Call Saul back to New Mexico to film the series’ sixth and final season. The Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino productions have had major positive and lasting impacts for New Mexico in so many ways and will always go down in the history books as the productions that changed the game for the film and television industry in New Mexico,” said Amber Dodson, director, New Mexico Film Office. “Not only did New Mexico’s biggest city, Albuquerque get a major starring role in these productions, but New Mexico’s sky, desert, and locations were showcased unlike anything we have ever seen on the screen before.”

Better Call Saul stars Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Tony Dalton, and Giancarlo Esposito. Better Call Saul garnered a 2018 Peabody Award, and, over the course of five seasons, has earned 40 Emmy® Award nominations, four Golden Globe® Award nominations, six Writers Guild Awards, nine Critics’ Choice Awards, five Television Critics Association Awards and four AFI Awards for “TV Programs of the Year,” among many other Guild nominations.

All film and television productions in New Mexico are required to adhere to the state’s operative emergency public health order, associated public health restrictions and COVID Safe Practices. The New Mexico Film Office has released Back2One, a catchall set of principles, general recommendations, and resources for film and television productions operating during COVID-19. Back2One recommendations and other COVID Safe Practices can be found at nmfilm.com

Death Saved My Life–In New Jersey
Haddonfield and other New Jersey towns play a starring role in the thriller Death Saved My Life, which recently debuted on Lifetime.

Based on true events, the film stars Meagan Good, and tells the story of a woman who faked her own death in order to trap her husband after he hires a hitman to kill her. The film is written by Barbara Kymlick and produced by Good, Julie Insogna Jarrett and Seth Jarrett.

Death Saved My Life also stars Chiké Okonkwo (Being Mary Jane) and Good’s real-life sister, La’Myia Good (The Wood). Most of the filming took place at a private residence, Haddonfield Borough Municipal Building, King Court and Zaffron Mediterranean Cuisine in Haddonfield. Additional scenes were filmed at Knight Park in Collingswood, Aloft Hotel in Mount Laurel, and at locations in Oaklyn, Paterson, and Ramsey. 

The telefilm tapped into South Jersey’s diverse local cast and crew talent. 

“Our film industry is growing and thriving, bringing exciting projects like Death Saved My Life to the Garden State,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “Our Film and Digital Media Tax Credit Program ensures we remain a premier film location.”

With the proper protocols and safety measures in place, a steady stream of production activity has continued in the state, according to the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission. 

Other projects recently filmed in New Jersey include CBS’s television series The Equalizer and Ways and Means, and Peacock streaming’s crime drama Dr. Death.

Motion picture and television production in New Jersey has increased dramatically since the Garden State Film and Digital Media Jobs Act took effect in 2018. The following year, film and television production generated more than $400 million for the state economy and created thousands of jobs.

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