When the State created the tax incentive program in the early 2000s to attract movie and TV producers to Louisiana, the hope was to turn Louisiana into Hollywood South. 15 years later, more movie and TV shows are shot in Louisiana than in almost any other state in the country. A big chunk of those productions have been filmed in Baton Rouge, at the Celtic Media Centre. Celtic is the largest studio in the state, with seven sound stages totaling more than 150-thousand square feet over forty acres. Blockbuster hits like Twilight: Breaking Dawn were shot there.

Patrick Mulhearn is Director of Celtic Studios. 

Celtic leases office space to movie productions businesses, among them Red Entertainment Group, the company behind 2014’s sleeper hit God’s Not Dead, which has grossed over $60m.

Jarred Coates is the founding partner of Red Entertainment and co-producer of God’s Not Dead. 

Amy Mitchel Smith left behind a career at industry-leader Miramax in New York to head up the Baton Rouge Film Commission, a gig she walked away from recently after 7 years at the helm, to found her own production company, Cienega Motion Picture Group.

Stephanie Riegel takes us behind the scenes of the Baton Rouge film business in this episode of Out to Lunch.

Photos by Ken Stewart at Mansur’s on the Boulevard.