New TV series films in Destrehan

The Scanlons were surprised when a representative from NBC knocked on their door and asked to film their Christmas decorations.

Local viewers should notice quite a few familiar settings when NBC’s The Thing About Pam premieres in March.

The series – an upcoming American crime drama limited television series detailing the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria and conviction of Pam Hupp – has been filming in and around Destrehan for the past few months. It stars Renée Zellweger, Josh Duhamel, Judy Greer, Katy Mixon, Gideon Adlon, Sean Bridgers, Glenn Fleshler, Suanne Spoke and Mac Brandt.

Jack and Tina Scanlon, who live on Devereaux Drive in Destrehan, said they were surprised when a knock on their door in December presented them with a unique opportunity.

“The week between Christmas and New Years there was a knock at the door and it was someone from NBC asking if we would be willing to allow them to film our decorations in the front of our house and they would pay us,” Tina said. “Of course we didn’t care about the money. The thought that our house would be in a show was exciting enough.”

The Scanlon’s home is known locally – and on Facebook – as the Holiday House of Destrehan. The couple’s elaborate Halloween and Christmas decorations began in 2007, the year they moved in. They started with a small arsenal of decorations, and later inherited some and even borrowed others from a family friend who had a lot of Halloween decorations but nowhere to store them.

Tina said the first evening of filming was very low key.

“They came that evening after sunset,” she said. “It was just a couple of people and a drone, but then they knocked again and asked if they could come back another day after New Years.”

When the crew returned on Jan. 5, it was a whole production.

“That time it was a full crew,” she said. “It was so cool … an entire entourage. It was like 30 people out here with multiple cameras and monitors. It was a big to-do. The street was blocked off on both ends. It was quite an experience. From what I understand they used a couple of other houses on our street too.”

Tina said there is also a house on Nottoway that has been used for filming.

 

About Monique Roth 919 Articles
Roth has both her undergraduate and graduate degree in journalism, which she has utilized in the past as an instructor at Southeastern Louisiana University and a reporter at various newspapers and online publications. She grew up in LaPlace, where she currently resides with her husband and three daughters.

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