ABC's 'Nashville' drama boosts Music City coffers, profile

• The show's crew includes 125-150 per day
• About 9 million watched first episode Wednesday
• Production has involved 350-400 Tenn. vendors

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- This time last year, Bob Hill was cleaning koi ponds and doing any other odd jobs his friends could dig up to supplement his sporadic career as a television stagehand.

Four months ago, though, he traded the carp for heavy equipment and took to work as a full-time best boy rigging grip.

"The last time we had steady work like this was probably the late '80s or early '90s," Hill said. "This is the job we've all been waiting for."

That job is compliments of Nashville, the soapy ABC drama that has been filming here since summer. With a crew of 125 to 150 people on any given day and production scheduled to last at least through the end of the year, Nashville has breathed life into the local television industry and set the stage for millions of dollars in future investment in Music City.

"I'm excited because I think it'll be an opportunity for everybody in the city," said Erika Wollam Nichols, general manager of The Bluebird Cafe, which features prominently in the series. "I've heard people say that it's going to be impossible to get a seat here anymore."

In general, the Nashville impact on the local economy is expected to occur in two major waves. The first is the immediate spending tied to production. That includes the salary paid to local crew members, like Hill, and money spent with Tennessee businesses.

The prime-time drama revolves around Nashville's music industry. Central to the story is the relationship between legendary but fading country singer Rayna Jaymes, played by Connie Britton, and emerging star Juliette Barnes, played by Hayden Panettiere.The second is more difficult to quantify, initially, because it involves the potential increase in tourism and other investment if the show is a hit and Nashville lovers descend on the city hoping to, say, visit the Bluebird.

Including the pilot, six episodes have been shot, said Patrick Preblick, a spokeswoman for ABC. Seven more, for a total of 13, will be filmed in Nashville by the end of this year.

The show's producers are waiting for word from ABC on whether the series will be picked up for a full season of 22 episodes. If it is, the remaining nine would be shot sometime next year.

About 9 million people watched the first episode of Nashville on Wednesday night, making it the second-most-watched show in its time slot, behind CSI, which hauled in 10.6 million viewers.

If the full season is shot here, the direct spend in Tennessee on the production is expected to reach $44 million, show producers and state officials said.

For comparison, "Country Strong," a major studio movie, pumped about $8 million into the local economy when it filmed in Nashville in 2010, according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The TV series Outlaw Country and Tough Trade, neither of which was picked up for a full season, resulted in direct spending of $5 million to $6 million, the economic development office said.

"This is a very well-funded series," said Clint Brewer, assistant commissioner of communications and creative services for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

Hitting home

So far, Nashville production has involved 350 to 400 Tennessee vendors, according to an assistant to the show's producer.

That includes transportation, construction, design, cleaning and just about any other type of company that comes to mind.

Nashville has also gone into business with numerous local homeowners by filming scenes on their property. No residence is more prominently featured in Nashville than Sylvia Roberts' Belle Meade home, which serves as the home of Rayna Jaymes. The show filmed scenes for its first three episodes on location at Roberts' home, then opted to re-create several of its rooms in painstaking detail on its local soundstage.

Production has been a boon to Nashville's many grips, electricians, painters and other television industry construction workers, who often have long lulls between jobs or have to live months at a time in Georgia, Louisiana and North Carolina, states with much more robust film industries.

"It's made a big difference in people's lives," said Peter Kurland, business agent for Local 492 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union, which represents television workers, specifically craftspeople, in Tennessee. "Work was slow here for a while. Some of these people were struggling to get by."

Individuals and businesses that receive checks directly from the series aren't the only ones who may benefit from it.

Take the Loveless Cafe, which began to realize the power the show could have on business this summer, when it was screened during the CMA Music Festival. The Nashville restaurant appears only briefly in the pilot, but Britton wears a Loveless Cafe T-shirt during the episode. The article of clothing did not go unnoticed, Loveless spokesman Jesse Goldstein said.

Fans of the cafe mentioned it on Facebook, and orders started to tick upward. The cafe was preparing for even more sales of the shirt Monday before the episode aired on network television.

"We're definitely anticipating and being prepared for the opportunity to take advantage of the exposure the show will bring us," Goldstein said.

Then there's the Bluebird, which will be featured so regularly on the show that a replica of the diner was built to accommodate filming after the pilot was shot on site. One of the show's main characters is a waitress at the venue, a destination for songwriters to play their music.

"We are not getting a lot of revenue from this," Nichols said. "But we are getting the visibility."

No guarantees

"Nashville," produced by Lionsgate, ABC Studios and Ryman Hospitality Properties, formerly Gaylord Entertainment, is being shot exclusively in Nashville. Ryman played a major role in getting the show developed and shot here, said Steve Buchanan, an executive producer on the show.

Still, there are no guarantees that Nashville, if it airs for more than one season, would continue to be filmed in Music City.

"One shouldn't take for granted that over time that would be a given," Buchanan said. "Shows like this are a major investment."

For the current season's production, Nashville stands to receive 32 percent of its costs back. If the show spends $44 million on goods and services at Tennessee businesses or on the salaries of crew members who are Tennessee residents, the production will be reimbursed $7.5 million, or 17 percent of its production costs, from the state in the form of a grant from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

The show also is eligible for a 15 percent refundable tax credit from the Tennessee Department of Revenue on its spending. That means a total of 32 percent of the cost to produce Nashville could end up being picked up by the state.

But if a second season is filmed, reimbursement would be limited to a grant that covers 25 percent of costs, because the revenue and economic development departments' film rebate programs were consolidated in the last legislative session.

Show producer Ryman Hospitality has retained The Ingram Group to help it lobby the state to have "Nashville" exempted from that cap.

Having Nashville continue to film in town would be welcomed by the hospitality industry, which is focused on getting people to watch the series with the hope that those viewers will be converted to visitors, said Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The hospitality industry is hoping that "Nashville" does for Nashville what the original Dallas did for the Texas city.

"It changed the face of Dallas," Spyridon said. "It took a fictitious ranch and made it a tourist destination."

Don't forget the music

The music industry that is central to the fictional "Nashville" also could get a boost in the real Nashville.

Last week, for instance, Nashville's Big Machine Label Group signed an exclusive agreement with ABC Studios to release and market the original music featured on Nashville, including songs performed by Britton and Panettiere. The music of several of the record label's artists also is prominently featured on the show.

"The music that is part of the show is available for people to purchase," Buchanan said. "That is an additional driver of revenue to our music industry."