1994 Northridge Earthquake - Television, Movie, and Music Productions Affected

Television, Movie, and Music Productions Affected

The earthquake disrupted production of movies and TV shows filming in the area at the time. The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Profit and Loss" was being filmed at the time and actors Armin Shimerman and Edward Wiley left the Paramount Pictures lot in full Ferengi and Cardassian makeup respectively. The season five episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Pie" was due to begin shooting on the day of the earthquake before stage sets were damaged. CBS's The Price is Right which shoots live in the CBS Television Center was affected by the quake when then-host Bob Barker told the crew that the set suffered some damage. NBC's The Tonight Show, hosted by Jay Leno, took place in the NBC Studios in Burbank (which is close to the epicenter of the quake) and Leno asked the crew to stop what they were doing. Also, ABC's General Hospital, which shoots in Los Angeles, was heavily affected by the Northridge earthquake. The set, which is at ABC Television Center, suffered major damage via partial collapse and water damage.

All of the earthquake sequences in the Wes Craven film New Nightmare were filmed a month prior to the Northridge quake. The real quake struck only weeks before filming was completed. Subsequently, a team was sent out to film footage of the quake damaged areas of the city. The cast and crew had initially thought that the scenes that were filmed before the real quake struck were a bit overdone, but when viewed after the real quake hit, they were horrified by the realism of it.

Michael Jackson had been due to begin recording of his new album HIStory on the day of the earthquake. A recording studio had just been refurbished at a cost of several million U.S. dollars, but Jackson's entourage moved recording to New York City. They returned to the new studio in Los Angeles some six months later.

Some archives of film and entertainment programming were also affected. For example, the original 35 mm master films for the 1960s sitcom My Living Doll were destroyed in the earthquake.