'Outer Banks' creator Jonas Pate is shooting his new project in Wilmington

Jonas Pate, the creator of the massively popular Netflix show "Outer Banks," about hot teens having adventures and getting into trouble on the North Carolina coast, is shooting the pilot for his latest project in Wilmington this month.

According to a public notice from Kimmie Stewart Casting posted Sept. 29, the Wilmington company was seeking teenage extras for "Untitled Band Project" from "North Carolina's own Jonas Pate!"

A "get to know you party" for cast and extras was held on Oct. 15 and, according to film permits filed with the city of Wilmington, the show is shooting this month at New Hanover High School and at other locations in the city, including downtown and in the Forest Hills and Carolina Heights neighborhoods.

The show is said to be about a high school rock band trying to make it big, and given Pate's success with "Outer Banks," the "Untitled Band Project" would seem to have a decent chance at becoming a hit. That said, there's never a guarantee that any pilot will be made into a full series.

Even if the pilot is picked up by Netflix or some other network or streaming service, there's no guarantee it would be filmed in Wilmington.

Pate, who's from Raeford, made his first movie in Wilmington in 1995 with his twin brother, Joshua. "The Grave," about two escaped prison inmates searching for buried treasure (the buried treasure theme that pops up multiple times on "Outer Banks"), made it into the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

Pate would eventually move to Los Angeles, where he lived for more than two decades before moving back to Wilmington in 2018. Pate had previously returned to Wilmington in 2005 to shoot the NBC TV series "Surface," of which he was a creator.

In 2019, Pate told the StarNews he wrote "Outer Banks" to shoot in North Carolina and specifically in Wilmington. But the show wound up shooting in South Carolina instead after the North Carolina General Assembly passed the controversial House Bill 2, which critics said discriminated against transgender people.

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HB-2 was repealed in 2017. But a provision in a replacement law, House Bill 142, that forbid municipalities from passing ordinances excluding them from the bill, proved a sticking point with Netflix, Pate said in 2019, and "Outer Banks" shot in the Charleston area instead.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Outer Banks creator Jonas Pate shooting pilot project in Wilmington