The Maplewood Township Committee has granted waivers to the producers of “American Classic“, an MGM+ streaming series that was set to begin filming in the township beginning June 7.
The eight-episode, half-hour comedy series will be filming in Maplewood in June, July and the beginning of August. It stars Laura Linney and Oscar winner Kevin Kline, who is also producing the series. The show will be filming at locations in Maplewood Village including the Burgdorff Arts Center and at private homes in Maplewood.
“They submitted the request today,” Township Administrator Patrick Wherry told the Township Committee on June 4. “They’re looking for waivers of time restrictions. Right now our code requires 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM filming, and anything beyond that requires a waiver. And we limit filming to five days in any location. It can be 10 days with a waiver. They had asked for relief from both of those. There are some overnight shoots, some of them going till 3:00 AM. The majority of those are fully interior. There are some backyard scenes that they would like to [shoot] at night, although they haven’t specified how late at night [and] that would include some lighting.”
“They have said that they’ve received signoffs from all of their neighbors,” added Wherry.
“I think the most important thing is they say they have the signoffs,” said Mayor Nancy Adams. “I think it’s up to you guys [township staff] to make sure that they do. As long as the neighbors are signing off since most of the shoot is in two different residences in town and in their rear yard — as long as the neighbors are okay with it, I’m fine with it.”
Adams jokingly added, “As long as Kevin Klein and Laura Linney come to this meeting.”
The other four committee members agreed and the waivers were granted.
