Wilmington, NCMovie & Television
Filming Locations
Hightown (TV 2020-)

Hightown (TV 2020-)

A wild show filled with colorful characters contrasting with the bleak and drab, morally-conflicted protagonist, who struggles with addiction while working in law enforcement. Season 2 is dark and gritty, as Jackie Quiñones (Monica Raymund) dips her toes in to troubled waters time and time again, all while attempting to improve her life and put bad guy Frankie Cuevas Sr. (Amaury Nolasco) out of business.

While the first season was actually shot in Cape Cod, the production moved to Wilmington for the second season. As such, only the second season is covered on this website. Still, there were several scenes, especially in the first episode, which were filmed in Cape Cod. For the sake of completion, those scenes filmed for season 2 in Cape Cod are also included here.

S2 E1 Halloween Party

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© StarzJackie heads in to the gay fray
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© H.O.W.D.Y. MediaActual location from the front of the restaurant Oceanic

Jackie (Monica Raymund) attends the party, although she hasn’t really bothered to dress up.

s2e1-halloween-jackie
© Starz

Upon entering, she runs in her roommate, the fabulous Fred (Francis Jue) who is peacocking with his inflatable rainbow. She doesn’t stop, though, and just sinks below the party to score some magic dust from Richard Simmons/Greg Giratoli (Dustin Lewis).

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© StarzWhile we won’t see much of Frank through the season, we do get to see him lighten things up

For the drug buying scene, it shot under Crystal Pier, which is attached to Oceanic.

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© StarzFunnily enough, for my first Halloween in Wilmington, I too dressed up as Richard Simmons
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© H.O.W.D.Y. MediaActual location under Crystal Pier behind the restaurant Oceanic

This actually was shot around Halloween, conveniently, and was filmed at Oceanic in Wrightsville Beach. I was thinking about answering the casting call for this one, but didn’t want to trek all the way down to Carolina Beach again. It was only afterwards that I learned from a friend that worked that scene that it was at the beach only 6 miles away from me. Had I known, I would have submitted. Looked like fun. Oh well.

S2 E1 Police Station

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This is the rear of the building, almost never seen except for this establishing shot (© Starz)

While the interior might actually be a set at the EUE/Screen Gems Studios, the establishing shots and exterior scenes are filmed here at the Carolina Beach town hall.

It’s more common to see the front of the building.

This is also the location of Jackie’s (Monica Raymund) AA meeting.

S2 E1 Passing on the Road

days-cottage-condosBeautifully executed shot filmed not in Wilmington, but actually in Cape Cod (© Starz)

Immediately upon seeing this it did not look like the Wilmington area. Knowing that productions will do establishing shots at actual locations far away, it could be possible to just film these exterior shots in Massachusetts and still film the interior shots locally in North Carolina. The people in the cars during exterior shots could also be doubles.

Looking at it deeper, they could have just flown the three actors up to the location for this one important scene. The shots look clean, the reflections of the poles look identical, except when Jorge (Luis Guzmán) is driving. For Jorge, he looks like he’s inside a car in a studio, as the windshield and lighting looks static. They even tilted the rear-view mirror in such a way to prevent the image being seen, although a sliver of the side-view mirror still visible.

jorge-drivingJorge’s gotta be in the studio with how this shot looks. (© Starz)

It’s my guess that only troopers Jackie (Monica Raymund) and Leslie Babcock (Tonya Glanz) went to the actual location, while Jorge stayed in Wilmington and a double was used for exterior shots.

cape-cod-crossing-cars(© Starz)
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