New Starz series 'Hightown,' about opioid crisis, filming on LI

Freeport has its Cape Cod houses, and now it’s standing in for the literal Cape Cod in the upcoming Starz series “Hightown."

A crime drama about a National Marine Fisheries Services officer in Provincetown, Massachusetts, investigating a murder tied to the Cape's opioid crisis, "Hightown" began filming in April in Freeport and is scheduled to continue into July. "This is supposed to be in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and they found homes they thought fit the description,” said Freeport Village Clerk Pamela Walsh Boening. Filming has averaged roughly one day a week, she said.

Production took place April 5 at private homes on Johnson Place and Church Street, and at Bagel Dock and Cafe on Guy Lombardo Avenue, and this past Tuesday at the Johnson Place home. The village's board of trustees so far has additionally approved filming at a private home on Garfield Street and at Freeport Auto Parts & Wrecking on Buffalo Avenue on May 8, according to public records. The Freeport Recreation Center on East Merrick Road serves as the production's staging area.

Shooting also will take place in the actual Provincetown, including on the historic and popular Commercial Street on June 4 with a fictional staging of the annual Carnival Parade that takes place each August.

"Hightown," originally announced last year as "P-Town," a nickname for Provincetown, stars Monica Raymund ("Chicago Fire") as National Marine Fisheries Services officer Jackie Quinones, who warily teams with state-police detective Ray Abruzzo (James Badge Dale) after the body of the latter's confidential informant washes ashore. Amaury Nolasco ("Prison Break") plays Frankie Alvarez, the imprisoned head of a local opioid ring that ties into the case.

Created by Rebecca Cutter, a writer for "The Mentalist" and "Code Black" and a former producer of "Gotham," the series is from Starz P-Town Productions and Jerry Bruckheimer Television.

Freeport has served as a locale for film and TV projects including USA Network's "Royal Pains," which shot at the Freeport Yacht Club in 2010; FX's "The Americans," which filmed on Atlantic Avenue between Milburn Creek Park and South Main Street in 2014; the Jake Gyllenhaal movie "Demolition" that same year; the upcoming TNT telefilm pilot "Constance;" and the upcoming independent feature "Roads to Olympia," which shot at Village Hall.