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'How to Get Away With Murder,' LA-style

Producers whose shows are set in Philadelphia but aren't filmed there usually express polite regret -- often blaming the cap on Pennsylvania's production tax credit -- but Pete Nowalk, creator of ABC's fall legal drama "How to Get Away With Murder," couldn't be happier that the show, whose pilot was filmed in Philly, won't be continuing there.

Producers whose shows are set in Philadelphia but aren't filmed there usually express polite regret -- often blaming the cap on Pennsylvania's production tax credit -- but Pete Nowalk, creator of ABC's fall legal drama "How to Get Away With Murder," couldn't be happier that the show, whose pilot was filmed in Philly, won't be continuing there.

"I feel lucky that we get to shoot it in Los Angeles, just because I get to be closer to production," said Nowalk, a veteran of the "Grey's Anatomy"  and "Scandal" writing staff whose boss, Shonda Rhimes, is also producing "Murder," which will air at 10 p.m. Thursdays, after "Scandal," starting Sept. 25.

"How to Get Away With Murder" stars Viola Davis ("The Help") as a Annalise Keating, a Philadelphia law professor and criminal defense attorney who schools her students in her own real-world version of the law.

Lots of cities have stood in for Philly over the years (yo, Toronto!), so why would a production film a pilot in the City of Brotherly Love and then move on?

Executive producer Bill D'Elia explains: "The show took place in Philadelphia, and it's easier to shoot a pilot on the actual locations" than it is to build sets. "Once you have a series ordered, you can build those sets and be on them on a regular basis...you don't have to spend the money to build the sets until you know you're picked up."

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