“Mercy Street” cancelled, film students may struggle to find local work

Two locally-produced television shows announced their final seasons, and filmmakers and students alike are concerned about job prospects in the area moving forward.

PBS recently canceled “Mercy Street,” a television show that has provided hundreds of jobs for Richmonders. The Civil War-era production was first filmed in 2015 in various parts of Central Virginia. It originally aired in 2016 and starred Josh Radnor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Producers cited the “complicated nature of aligning production timelines and funding commitments,” as the reason for the cancellation. The second season’s finale — now the series finale — aired last Sunday.

“We sought to bring a time and place to life that is so important to understanding American history, and in a way that was meaningful, authentic and entertaining,” said executive producer David Zucker in a statement.

According to fellow producer David Zabel, “Mercy Street” was a project five years in the making before airing on PBS.

“Together, we delivered 12 hours of compelling and worthwhile storytelling which we all take pride in,” Zabel said.

“TURN: Washington’s Spies,” another television show shot in and around Richmond, announced this season — it’s fourth — would be its last.

Not only will the cancellation of both shows result in a loss of jobs for Virginia filmmakers, but many VCU students have lost opportunities to work and learn on professional sets.

“With the talk recently about, you know, funding to public access programs and PBS being cut, I think that seeing a show like Mercy Street fall immediately after that is really kind of saddening and disappointing,” said VCUarts student Nick Atanasio.

Atanasio, a junior in the Cinema program, said he was hoping to land a job on “Mercy Street” post-graduation.

“That’s a lot of stability gone from their lives with both ‘TURN’ and ‘Mercy Street’ canceled,” Atanasio said. “I can’t even imagine how stressful that must feel for VCU students who are trying to get work fresh out of college.”

Headed by program director Robert Tregenza, VCUarts Cinema is one of 17 American film schools recognized by the International Association of Film and Television Schools (CILECT).

Fourteen VCUarts Cinema students, alumni and professors worked on season one of “Mercy Street,” and 16 worked on season two, according to program academic advisor Nikita Moyer.

“As a senior about to graduate, it’s scary because ‘Mercy Street’ and ‘Turn’ were major shows that we could get our start on,” said senior Monica Woolsey. “Now that both are gone it’s worrisome because that leaves a lot of people without steady work. I’m sure other shows will pop up, but those two seemed to be the most steady and helpful in the Richmond area.”

A handful of other projects have passed through Richmond in recent years, including feature films “Lincoln” (2012), “Killing Kennedy” (2013), and “Loving” (2016).

Zoe Ferebee, a junior in the Cinema program, worked as a production intern last fall on “Loving,” directed by Jeff Nichols. The film told the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a white man and an African American woman who were sentenced to prison in Virginia for their contested inter-racial marriage in the mid-20th century.

Ferebee said that while VCUarts Cinema provides plenty of learning opportunities for its students, there is nothing that can “imitate working on a real set.” She said some of the highlights are working with a range of people — some who just started out and others who have been in the business for more than 30 years.

“Losing another show is absolutely terrible and toxic for local filmmakers,” Ferebee said. “If we want to keep up with making more good filmmakers, people like me need local professionals to learn from.”

According to the Virginia Film Office website, the state has two different incentive funds that have drawn many filmmakers to shoot their projects in Virginia. The Motion Picture Opportunity Fund provides grants, while the Virginia Motion Picture Tax Credit Fund provides refundable tax credits.

Since the show’s cancellation has been announced, the VFO Facebook page has requested anyone interested in seeing the production picked up by another outlet start spreading the hashtag “#SaveMercyStreet.”
“No show is ever 100 percent guaranteed to get renewed on television, but the fact that a lot of national art funding is being cut now has a clear and direct impact on local graduates and businesses,” said Jamie King, a 2015 graduate of the Cinema program. “It’s just depressing to see something I have a degree in have to worry about the fact that it isn’t deemed a necessity by the (Trump) administration.”

NEWS EDITOR

Maura Mazurowski
Maura is a senior pursuing degrees in cinema and mass communications. This is her second year at the CT; prior to joining transferring to VCU, Maura was the news editor for two years at Virginia Tech’s student newspaper, the Collegiate Times. Maura has been published in USA TODAY, Elite Daily and other online publications. Her ideal job would involve combining investigative journalism and film. If all else fails, hopefully The Onion will be hiring.
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