It’s been seven-and-a-half years since Jadin Bell, a high school student from La Grande, Oregon, committed suicide following a period of intense bullying. Harrased by fellow classmates for being a gay young man in a deeply conservative town, Jadin’s suicide made national news. It also inspired his father, Joe, to set out on a cross-country roadtrip (on foot!), spreading an anti-bullying message to any good samaritan who would listen. On October 6th, 2013, Joe Bell would also tragically lose his life, being hit by a semi-truck while in the midst of his improbable journey.

The bad news recently, for Utah’s film economy, is that the popular cable-TV series “Yellowstone” has left the state.

The good news is that the state is continuing to announce film and TV projects that are receiving financial aid from Utah’s incentive program.

Five production projects, including a pair of TV series and three films, were approved to be filmed in Utah, state officials said Thursday.

The productions approved by the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development Board to film in Utah are:

• “The Chosen“ — Season 2 (VidAngel streaming series)
• “The Outpost“ — Season 4 (The CW TV series)
• “Alien County”
• “Michael McLean’s The Forgotten Carols”
• “Twice Upon a Song”

A new feature film is showcasing Tooele Valley on the big screen like never before.

“Grandpa’s Crazy?” will be shot entirely in the city, with an all-Utah cast and crew. It has created nearly 50 jobs and was approved to receive $12,000 through the Utah Film Commission’s incentives program.

With big crews and lots of moving parts, it can be hard to maintain social distance on a film set. Because of that, film production has been one of the hardest hit industries during the coronavirus pandemic, and one of the slowest to return. But over the last few months, in Utah, it’s begun to show signs of life.

Despite the tourism downturn, one industry is coming to Utah and bringing higher-than-average business: commercials.

After a bit of a dry spell due primarily to coronavirus impacts, five productions — in the categories of “Hallmark” and “horror” — were approved for state film incentives this month.

If these were normal times, there’d be singing and dancing at East High in Salt Lake City as production continued on Season 2 of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” There’d be horse riding and, no doubt, faux murder and mayhem in Summit County during production of Season 3 of “Yellowstone.”