Chicago Teamsters to Work on Upcoming TV Shows

Series From VH1, MTV, Starz Filming in City

The recent Hollywood buzz around Chicago continues to build as more TV shows have signed on to film in the Windy City with Teamsters Local 727 members working on the sets.

“Boss” on Starz was renewed for a second season even before the first season aired, and star Kelsey Grammer is receiving high praise for his portrayal of fictional Chicago Mayor Tom Kane. Production for the second season is expected to begin in late March. About 30 Teamsters worked on the first season’s eight-episode production, which filmed on location on Chicago’s South Side and in the new state-of-the-art Cinespace Studios.

“The word is out: Chicago is an excellent place to film because of our city’s beautiful scenery, our top-notch film studio and our incredibly hardworking crews,” said John Coli Jr., Local 727 President. “More projects means more jobs, and TV shows are especially vital because they represent the potential for work for many, many years.”

Four Local 727 members will be working on “Mob Wives: Chicago,” a spinoff of the VH1 reality show “Mob Wives.” Production began Dec. 11, and the show is set to debut in spring 2012. The second season of “Mob Wives,” which follows the lives of four Staten Island women with personal ties to New York mob figures, premieres Jan. 1.

The scripted MTV show “Underemployed,” which filmed its pilot here earlier this year, has been picked up for a full season, and production is expected to begin in April 2012. “Underemployed” is an ensemble comedy from the Emmy-nominated Craig Wright (“Six Feet Under”) that follows a group of post-grads who are forced into taking jobs for which they are clearly overqualified.

Teamsters Local 727 is an affiliate of Teamsters Joint Council 25, which represents more than 100,000 hardworking men and women throughout Illinois and Indiana.

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