The State House's starring roles as a TV show arrives for a shoot

Nestled among decades worth of campaign stickers that dot the walls of the state House press gallery are a few bumper stickers for a person who actually doesn’t exist. 

The red-white-and-blue “Billy Dylan, state representative” stickers are old movie props, scattered among the real-deal campaign artifacts to add authenticity when a film now known as “Unfinished Business” shot scenes on Beacon Hill in 1999. 

The movie, a project of former Secretary of State Michael Connolly, is set in the 1980s, following independent Rep. Billy Dylan as he learns to navigate the world under the golden dome and its scandals. Preparing to premier an updated version last September, Connolly told the Boston Globe that observations from his own political career are peppered throughout — including a fight scene inspired by a dust-up he witnessed at a 1979 fundraiser at Anthony's Pier 4.

The State House has appeared in bigger-name productions, too, with frequent exterior shots popping up in “The Departed” and its halls standing in for a hospital and courthouse in the 1982 Paul Newman flick “The Verdict.” And it’ll be back under the Klieg lights again, with Ashburton Park reserved for a six-hour stretch today to shoot the Donnie Wahlberg police drama “Boston Blue.” 

That’s not the CBS show’s only brush with the real-life world of Massachusetts government this week. Actress Gloria Reuben, who plays the show's district attorney, shadowed nonfiction counterpart Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden Monday. Reuben and a producer visited with Hayden last year, too.

The Massachusetts Film Office logged Boston Blue as one of 19 productions that filmed in the state last year, including episodes of “Dateline NBC” and HGTV's “Beachfront Bargain Hunt: Renovation,” Ed Sheeran's "Old Phone" music video, and two very different movies set to be released this week: the Anthony Bourdain-inspired "Tony" and "Super Troopers 3."

Those and other productions, if they spend at least $50,000 in Massachusetts, would be eligible to apply for the state's film tax credit. Department of Revenue data show the state issued a total of more than $22 million in film production tax credits in 2024, after a blockbuster year in 2023 with $108 million in credits. 

Lawmakers made the incentive, long a source of scuffles between industry boosters eyeing growth in the state's production economy and others who argue there are better uses for public dollars, permanent in 2021. It’s now in line for another revision if House negotiators get their way in talks with the Senate. The House version of the economic development bill would double the current 12-month window for claiming and calculating the credit, a move House leaders say would bring in more show business. 

If TV and movies aren’t your thing, here’s something else to watch: the House bill would also create a new tax credit for video games developed here.

Trivia time: I know of at least two state reps you can see on screen — one who’s been in 91 TV commercials, and another with extra roles in “Black Mass” and “Spotlight,” plus a three-episode stint in 2006 as (you guessed it) a state rep in a Showtime series.

Can you name them (and, if I’m missing someone, let me know who else’s IMDB page is worth a click)? Drop me a line at [email protected].

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