Birmingham approves new funding for film + TV production in The Magic City

In the past few years, Birmingham has seen a noticeable increase in movies, TV shows, and other productions being filmed around the city. From high-budget feature films like The Devil All The Time and The Rivals of Amziah King to productions from local filmmakers like Don’t Die, Birmingham is growing as a hub for film and television.

To help encourage the momentum, the Birmingham City Council recently approved a $160,000 grant to local organization Create Birmingham to continue to bring film and TV show productions to The Magic City.

Birmingham is becoming a rising hub for film and TV production

In 2023, social media was abuzz with sightings of famed actor Matthew McConaughey in Birmingham while filming the 2025 crime thriller film The Rivals of Amziah King. Known for his critically acclaimed roles in Dallas Buyers Club (2013), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Interstellar (2014) and the first season of HBO’s True Detective (2014), McConaughey recently stated that he “fell in love” with Birmingham during his stay.

The Rivals of Amziah King was hardly the first feature filmed in The Magic City.

In 2018, sections of downtown were closed off to film Line of Duty, a 2019 action thriller starring Aaron Eckhart. In 2019, Birmingham’s Forest Park neighborhood was used as a backdrop for scenes in The Devil All The Time, a 2020 American Southern Gothic psychological crime thriller starring Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård and many more.

Several high-profile productions came to Birmingham in 2023. In February, several blocks along 23rd Street North were closed for the filming of The Shift, a Christian science fiction thriller starring Neal McDonough and Sean Astin. A couple of months later, scenes from the 2024 action thriller Gunner—starring Morgan Freeman and Luke Hemsworth—were filmed in Birmingham and Bessemer.

In an interview with Bham Now, The Shift producer Ken Carpenter stated why Birmingham was an attractive location for filmmakers.

“Birmingham offers so much that makes shooting the film here a natural choice. The visual textures of the city are ideal, it’s perfectly located between additional resources in Nashville and Atlanta and the community has been very welcoming. We’re grateful to be working here.”

Ken Carpenter, Producer, The Shift

Other movies that have been filmed in Birmingham in recent years include:

However, Birmingham’s filmmaking ecosystem wouldn’t be as strong as it is without the work of the actors, directors, producers, cinematographers, costume designers, production assistants and more than call The Magic City home.

“I don’t think many people realize just how many productions we have going on here in Birmingham. It’s not on the scale of Atlanta or New Orleans, but we have hundreds of full-time film workers living here and making most of their money here at home.

Visiting celebrities will always grab the local headlines and activate our Southern hospitality, but outside productions are essential for maintaining a healthy film ecosystem. They provide opportunities for our homegrown talent to get paid what they’re worth and bring that experience with them to projects made by Alabama filmmakers. And then audiences get to see all of that translate on screen, which attracts more future productions. It’s a beautiful cycle when all of the parts are running smoothly.”

Jeremy Burgess, Birmingham-based screenwriter and producer 

Birmingham approves $160,000 in funding to Create Birmingham

On Tuesday, January 28, the Birmingham City Council approved an agreement to provide $160,000 to Create Birmingham, the local organization dedicated to supporting economic development within creative industries in the Greater Birmingham area. The agreement will support Create Birmingham’s efforts to:

• Provide professional creative industry services in delivering production registration
• Maintain film crew and location databases
• Attract new films
• Develop film-friendly policy and regional cooperation that will have a significant impact on the city’s local creative economy while raising Birmingham’s national profile as a dynamic and hospitable place to do business

According to Create Birmingham, a total of 39 film projects were shot in Birmingham in 2025. The productions brought a total of $13 million in local spending, including:

• 2,239 hotel nights booked
• 439 local crew hired
• 1,231 extras hired
• 174 vehicles rented

“Create and Film Birmingham are beyond excited to continue to partner with the city to expand and strengthen our local film industry here, to not just help bring more productions to town, but also assist local filmmakers with getting their own projects off the ground.

This significant funding will also allow us to continue to serve our filmmaking community in so many other unique ways, including with our ever-growing workforce and educational development initiatives, general film programming, networking opportunities, and so much more.

We are so thankful for the city’s leadership when it comes to supporting this important part of our creative economy here in town and can’t wait to see what 2026 brings for the film industry as a whole!”

Lee Shook, Director, Film Birmingham

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