Palm Royale takes a sideways swipe at 1960s Americana, telling the story of Maxine Simmons, who is beguiled by the extravagance of the Palm Royale, an exclusive and luxurious club she feels she simply needs to be a member of. But despite revolving around Palm Beach high society, the Apple TV+ series was not filmed in Palm Beach at all, outside of some necessary establishing shots. Instead, Los Angeles was used as a convenient substitute.
Palm Royale Filming Locations
Palm Royale was mainly filmed in Los Angeles, standing in for the show’s setting of Florida. Although there are plenty of establishing shots to sell the Miami vibe, social media posts reveal the crew doing most of the filming at Paramount Studios. The working title for the series was Mrs American Pie — it’s based on the book Mr. and Mrs. American Pie by Juliet McDaniel — and on the Instagram page of director Arto Halonen, we can see posts of him hanging out with Josh Lucas, one of the stars of the series, at the famous studio.
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Everything the shoot required could be found in LA, and establishing shots of real locations in Palm Springs were used to sell the scenes. However, eagle-eyed viewers will recognize one of the show’s big set pieces, the gala, was recorded at the Biltmore Hotel. Recognisable due to its opulent Crystal ballroom, the hotel, located at South Grand Avenue in Miami, is easy to spot. Other real locations were used to recreate the feel of the late-60s in Palm Springs, and what they couldn’t find was done in-studio.
Palm Beach locals will be able to pick out some of the shots used in the series, and an article in USA Today Entertainment manages to spot them all. You can see aerial shots of the iconic Bath and Tennis Club, known locally as the B&T, at the start of Episode 1. In the same shots, you can see the private Mar-a-Lago Club — not Mar-a-Lago — which was bought by Donald Trump in 1985 and turned into a club in 1994. The huge American flag was installed by Trump after the acquisition.
Another shot from the air shows the busy Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beaches’ main street, and establishing shots of the Breakers Palm Beach Resort were used, even though the interior filming was done in LA.
Why was Palm Royale not filmed at Palm Beach?
It all comes down to logistics, and ease of access as far as filming goes. The simple answer is it was easier to film in a studio and L.A. rather than in Palm Beach. In the past, it has been reported that filming in Palm Beach is difficult as the permits required to film on location are hard to come by, so rather than jump through the complex hoops put in place, it’s easier to film elsewhere and grab a few drone shots to set the scenes up instead.
Reports Suggest Palm Royale Could Boost Tourism!
It would surprise you how many people can watch a series and be so impressed by the visuals that they want to check the setting out for themselves, and with somewhere as beautiful as Palm Beach, those establishing shots hold some real sway for the tourism industru.
In an article on Fox29, Milton Segarra, the CEO of Discover the Palm Beaches, says, “50% of the people that watch a show most likely spark interest in the destination. And one in four will drive the decision-making to pick that place.”
And who can blame them when the sets look this good.
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