Writer and producer David Simon, best known for “The Wire,” announced on Twitter on Tuesday that he will not film his new show about Texas in Texas because of the state’s new abortion law:
He wanted to film his new @HBO miniseries in Texas.
That was before the state's new abortion law.
Now David Simon, of "The Wire" and "Treme", is looking for someplace out of state that "looks like" Dallas-Fort Worth.https://t.co/b67JX3b3p7 @AoDespair @Ariana_noGrande— David Beard (@dabeard) September 21, 2021
“What else looks like Dallas/Ft. Worth?” he asked his Twitter followers:
If an employer, this is beyond politics. I’m turning in scripts next month on an HBO non-fiction miniseries based on events in Texas, but I can’t and won’t ask female cast/crew to forgo civil liberties to film there. What else looks like Dallas/Ft. Worth? https://t.co/q6Py6XikYh
— David Simon (@AoDespair) September 20, 2021
The Dallas Film & Creative Industries Office asked him to reconsider:
.@AoDespair -Laws of a state are not reflective of its entire population. Not bringing a production to Dallas (a big "D") only serves to further disenfranchise those that live here. We need talent/crew/creatives to stay & vote, not get driven out by inability to make a living. https://t.co/DxD46z0nNu
— Dallas Film & Creative Industries Office (@DallasCommish) September 20, 2021
But, no dice:
You misunderstand completely. My response is NOT rooted in any debate about political efficacy or the utility of any boycott. My singular responsibility is to securing and maintaining the civil liberties of all those we employ during the course of a production. https://t.co/cSKZu08uOO
— David Simon (@AoDespair) September 20, 2021
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He noted that he moved productions in the past from Iraq because of safety issues:
When the vulnerability of cast/crew was at issue we shot Mozambique and Namibia for Iraq. We will make do. https://t.co/JEdXsPRY71
— David Simon (@AoDespair) September 21, 2021
One of his followers satirically suggested Honolulu but Simon answered with, “Maybe Tulsa”:
Honolulu would work but for the palm trees, shoreline and absence of square-headed, all-hat-no-cattle shitposters trying to use hack politicians to crawl into every last womb they can. Maybe Tulsa. https://t.co/R7iuCkr3U0
— David Simon (@AoDespair) September 21, 2021
As for other locations, the architecture critic for the Dallas Morning News says there’s really no substitute but maybe Los Angeles would work:
hi @AoDespair. i respect your decision but as the architecture critic of the @dallasnews, i can tell you nothing else looks like dallas. fwiw, "north dallas 40" was filmed in los angeles. both are auto-centric, glassy, and sprawling. so….. https://t.co/95nOZYR85E
— mark lamster (@marklamster) September 20, 2021
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