A Cessna and a Golf Course Just a Plane Day in Santa Clarita

You’ve no doubt driven around Santa Clarita and have seen signs directing cast and crew to basecamp and shooting locations for the latest television shows and films. The Santa Clarita Valley has doubled as locations all over the world, from Hazzard County, Georgia to the Middle East and everywhere in between. And while it is always a treat to see familiar places show up in your favorite TV show or movie, you may not know the amount of work being done behind the scenes to make sure everything goes according to plan.
This is especially true for stunts, which take careful coordination but deliver maximum thrill and excitement for the audience. When a production films in Santa Clarita, staff from the City’s Film Office works closely with representatives to first and foremost ensure that everyone on set – and off – is safe and protected. Most often, these stunts include mock gunfire or explosions, though from time to time, larger, more visible plans are in the works…like when a production wants to have a plane make an emergency landing on a golf course.
That was just the case when Fox’s “9-1-1” made a call to the City for the sixth episode of its first season (“Heartbreaker”), which premiered on February 7, 2018. In the episode, first responders from Station 118 are called to a local golf course where a Cessna is forced to land following a medical emergency. The stunt itself, which has approximately 25 seconds of screen time, involved the plane flying low, landing and coming to a stop on a fairway. In actuality, the plane landing required much more prep time before the aircraft was ever in the sky.
To make the stunt happen, the City’s Film Office worked nearly nonstop to get clearances and traffic control in place after receiving the request on a Friday before a planned shoot day the following Monday. In order to be able to film, the production first needed clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration to register its flight path, which would take the plane over the Westfield Valencia Town Center and past the Hyatt Regency Valencia before safely landing on the golf course at the Valencia Country Club.
In addition, the City worked with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Fire Department to have necessary safety officials in place. A traffic control plan was also implemented to intermittently stop vehicles on McBean Parkway so that no drivers were underneath the plane on its approach to the golf course. Thankfully, one take was all that was needed to get the shot!
The next time you watch a movie or your favorite TV show, be sure to have a keen eye and see if you can spot any scenes filmed in Santa Clarita. To learn more about Santa Clarita’s filmmaking history and to see a list of what has been filmed here, please visit www.FilmSantaClarita.com and follow the City’s film office on social media. 

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