Florida
‘Bad Boys’ and ‘Road House’ Remind Filmmakers What Florida Has to Offer
The Sony Pictures sequel “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” made headlines as it rolled through a succession of Florida locations in late February and early March, with reports of crews “spark(ing) buzz” filming on the A1A Highway in Fort Lauderdale, fans catching a glimpse of stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Brickell, and traffic tie-ups in Miami.
“If you look at the trailer, you’ll see anything that has to do with the beach is all us, with the stunt scene that they did on Ocean Drive in Fort Lauderdale,” boasts Sandy Lighterman, film commissioner for Broward County (Film Lauderdale) and president of Film Florida. “That was because we made it so easy for them.”
One of the reasons the presence of the latest “Bad Boys” movie was such big news is that while Florida has a wealth of TV production courtesy of Spanish language networks Telemundo and Univision, commercial shoots, and reality series such as “Selling Tampa” and “The Queen of Versailles Reigns Again” — all of which maintain a healthy crew base and industry infrastructure — shoots for scripted Hollywood movies and TV series are a rarity these days.
The state has served as the primary shooting location for many memorable projects, from movies such as “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” (1994) to the TV series “Miami Vice” (1984-1989) and “Burn Notice” (2007-2013). But these days, major Florida-set productions are more likely to resemble Apple TV+ series “Palm Royale,” which was only there long enough to do aerial shots of the Bath & Tennis Club in Palm Beach, and Netflix’s remake of “Road House,” which was filmed almost entirely in the Dominican Republic.
The reason is simple economics: since the sunset of the Sunshine State’s film and TV tax incentive in 2015, productions have gone elsewhere, most notably its neighbor to the north, Georgia, which offers a 20%-30% refundable tax credit.
With no sign of the state moving to revive its incentive, counties are taking matters into their own hands. In April, Miami-Dade County launched its High Impact Film Fund Program, offering a cash rebate of up to 20%. To qualify, projects must have a minimum budget of $5 million, base 90% of their Florida production in the county, and have 60% of their qualified labor be country residents and 70% of their vendors be locally registered businesses. With its annual cap of just $10 million, it’s unlikely to attract any tentpole movies, but it’s suitable for higher-end low budget films or a portion of a TV series. The county also has an incentive for projects with a minimum spend of $1 million that awards grants of up $100,000 per project.
“We worked very closely with a lot of industry stakeholders to research around the country and around the world as to what would make sense in terms of putting these percentages together,” says Marco Giron, chief of film and entertainment in Miami-Dade County.
In Broward County, located in the Miami metropolitan area, producers can choose from a menu of incentives, including the Sun-Screen Program ($1.5 to $5 million county spend; 20% rebate capped at $800,000) and the High Impact Film & TV ($5 million minimum county spend; 15% rebate capped at $2 million).
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve had 12 movies that fully shot here because of the incentive program,” says Lighterman, who preceded Giron in Miami-Dade before taking the top film job in Broward in December 2021.
But movies aren’t the only yardstick of success. The film and TV industry generated a record $247 million in local expenditures in Palm Beach County in 2023, up 3% from 2022, on the strength of unscripted shows such as “Hot Yachts” (ITV/Paramount+) and the Netflix docuseries “Break Point.”
One of the drivers of its success is the Palm Beach County Film and Television Commission’s sponsorship and development program, which encourages the production of content that promotes local tourism. To be considered for funding, shows must have distribution outside the county, reaching potential visitors. After airing on their original platforms, they become available on demand on the Palm Beaches TV channel. Projects participating in the program have included Travel Channel’s “Pets in Paradise” and PBS’ “Travels and Traditions” with Burt Wolf.
“In many cases, they wouldn’t have the budget to do these types of things, so it’s been an incredible success for us,” says Palm Beach County film commissioner Michelle Hillery.
In the case of actress of Julia Stiles’ directorial debut “Wish You Were Here,” however, the primary reason a large portion of the shoot took place in Florida was not incentives (it didn’t get any), the valuable help it received from the Palm Beach and Broward County film commissions or the connections producer Michelle Khan made shooting commercials in the state. It was, in fact, a boat.
“There’s a catamaran featured in one of the final scenes in the film that we were able to get for a relatively affordable price down there,” says Khan.
Florida
Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’
It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.
Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.
But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.
William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.
Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.
Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.
“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.
“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”
The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.
He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.
At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”
Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.
Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.
Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.
“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.
That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”
In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.
“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”
Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.
Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.
Florida
Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'
Florida
Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip
Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.
“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.
“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.
Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”
The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.
“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”
That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.
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