Select Board Approves Permits For Another Major Film Production On Nantucket This Fall

Nantucket will play host to another major film production this November.

The Select Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to grant Faraway Films permits to film scenes for the upcoming film “A Woman in the Sun” on November 12th and 13th. The initial request was for November 10th through the 12th, but it changed slightly before the Select Board’s meeting.

“A Woman in the Sun” is now the second major production in as many years to travel to Nantucket, after Universal Productions shot portions of the television adaptation of local author Elin Hilderbrand’s novel “The Five Star Weekend” on the island last fall.

Starring Renee Zellweger, Sissy Spacek and Mia Threapleton, “A Woman in the Sun” follows a bartender on Nantucket who has to grapple with her mother’s illness and her daughter’s return home. The directorial debut of Julia Cox, who wrote the Oscar-nominated film “Nyad,” the movie appears to have an interest in what it describes as “Nantucket’s dwindling middle class.” Zellweger and one other actor are expected to make the trip to Nantucket.

The town’s culture and tourism department recommended approval, pointing to the clear economic benefits of the production. “The Five Star Weekend” generated millions in revenue for local businesses and over $139,000 in fees for the town. The Select Board agreed with the recommendation.

The Sconset Civic Association and the Sconset Trust, however argued that the production, which will film partially in Sconset, will drive overtourism in the area, and that the island already receives too much attention as a tourist destination.

On the other hand, some Select Board members said that they felt that the film’s focus on the year-round community was a point in its favor, perhaps acting as a counterbalance to the dominant narrative of Nantucket as a summer destination.

One local’s testimony proved especially influential: two Select Board members - Matt Fee and Jill Vieth - said that they voted for the production because of comments made by Sophia Reis, an aspiring local filmmaker who spoke passionately in favor of the production and the opportunity it afforded her. Vieth specifically requested that Reis be involved with the production going forward.

Fee, the lone Select Board member to vote against approving “The Five Star Weekend,” raised some familiar concerns, but ultimately voted to approve the permits for “A Woman in the Sun.”

In the aftermath of the vote on “The Five Star Weekend,” the town overhauled its permitting process and made it more difficult to acquire permission to film on Nantucket.

Notably, the new rules require films to submit requests 90 days in advance. The application for “A Woman in the Sun” included in the Select Board’s agenda packet, was dated August 31st, giving significantly less than 90 days of notice. However, culture and tourism director Shantaw Bloise-Murphy said Wednesday that the production had submitted a previous application on August 13th, which would be exactly 90 days before filming was initially set to begin.

Bloise-Murphy called the initial application a “hopes and dreams” application that could not have feasibly been approved or filmed.

While on Nantucket, the crew plans to film at locations including Sconset Beach, the Summer House, downtown bars, and the Steamship Authority terminal.