Shubhabrata Dutta
Created by Michael Alaimo and Kendall Sherwood, Prime Video’s ‘Ballard’ is a spin-off series of ‘Bosch: Legacy.’ Based on characters from Michael Connelly’s novels, the police procedural drama series centers on LAPD Detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q), who leads the newly formed, albeit underfunded, Cold Case Division. As fruitless as the division is for those who aren’t a part of it, Ballard’s outlook and investigation make it clear that the past lives in the present.
She delves deep into each seemingly dead case that comes her way, digging up clues and buried secrets, connecting the dots, and finding answers. Revelations often entail high risks, thereby proving that cold doesn’t always mean dead. The drama series is set in Los Angeles, and the visuals incorporate befitting backdrops to underscore the authenticity that fuels each case Ballard handles, giving the viewers a true-to-form police procedural experience.
Ballard Filming Locations
In keeping with the narrative, ‘Ballard’ is filmed entirely in California, especially in Los Angeles County. Principal photography reportedly began in the fourth week of July 2024 and continued for several months before wrapping up in mid-November of the same year. The production team utilized both real locations and studio space to bring the story to life, providing viewers with a captivating vista of Metro-LA noir and resorting to custom sets for indoor scenes and action sequences. “We were laser-focused on getting every detail right—from the cases to how officers move in the field,” Director Zetna Fuentes told Net Filming.
Los Angeles County, California
Almost all the pivotal sequences for ‘Ballard’ were taped in Los Angeles County, California. The LAPD Ahmanson Recruit Training Center, at 5651 West Manchester Avenue, is where the cold case archive is, so the crew may have shot a few scenes there. Several scenes were also shot in the neighborhood of Mar Vista, including at the Rutt’s Hawaiian Café, located at 11707 Washington Place. It is well-known locally for its Hawaiian dishes. Many scenes were taped along the section of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) that runs through Santa Monica and Malibu, especially at Patrick’s Roadhouse, an iconic diner at 106 Entrada Drive.
The crew also lensed some scenes in Arleta, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, including in the area near the Lady of the Valley mural, which can be spotted at the intersection of Arleta Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard. In Venice, the crew set up camp in Venice Beach, one of the most popular beaches in the world, and the two-mile Ocean Front Walk for outdoor sequences and establishing shots. The boardwalk is a hub of entertainment and offers a vibrant mix of street performers, souvenir shops, and tourist activities.
Malibu, a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains, was also used as the setting within the plot. Paradise Cove Road is where Ballard lives with her grandmother, so some scenes were taped in the area. The scenic Paradise Cove Beach, offering the perfect Southern California experience, was captured for establishing shots and expanding the metro-LA landscape. What gives filming in Malibu an emotional arc is that right after production wrapped, the city and the Pacific Palisades were hit by a string of wildfires in January 2025.
The show, therefore, provides several memories of how the two locations were before almost everything was destroyed and is a visual record of the same. “That coastline was my daily commute in the show, and we spent a lot of time there, and I’ve been back since and cried the whole way from PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) all the way up to deep in Malibu…So, we’ve immortalized this part of the West Side of LA that will never be the same, and I think it’s going to be very bittersweet to see what we captured- and I know what we captured because I was there- and what currently no longer exists,” Maggie told TV Insider.
Los Angeles is the home of Hollywood and has many production studios, one or more of which may have been utilized to film scenes that require controlled environments and sets. Large sound stages with state-of-the-art equipment and backlots naturally aid in giving shape to an action-packed drama series like ‘Ballard.’ Some hotspots that often find a place in movie and TV productions are Hollywood Boulevard, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Echo Park, Griffith Observatory, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and the Griffith Observatory. Other shows filmed in Los Angeles County include ‘Countdown,’ ‘The Residence,’ ‘The Rookie,’ and ‘True Detective.’
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