Anonymous wrote:The obvious answer is tax breaks
This. I used to live in New Orleans. After Katrina, they desperately needed to revitalize their economy and so they specifically set up financial incentives for movies to film there. Tons and tons of movies are filmed there now, and most of the time you would never even know.
Living there, the same way it seems like everyone you meet in DC works in government or politics or think tanks, everyone you meet in New Orleans either works in hospitality or is in the movie biz.