Made in California: How Forever' Embraced the City of Los Angeles From Production to Premiere

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Made in California: How Forever' Embraced the City of Los Angeles From Production to Premiere

Forever' stars Lovie Simone and Michael Cooper Jr. attend the premiere screening and Forever market at TUDUM Theater in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kayla Oaddams/Getty Images for Netflix).

Entertainment

13 May 2025

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Viewers are falling in love with Forever.

The critically-acclaimed new series, Certified Fresh with a 95% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, debuted at #2 on the US Top 10 English TV List with 3.7M views globally. Forever made the Top 10 in 36 other countries and was #1 in seven.

From showrunner and Los Angeles native Mara Brock Akil (Girlfriends, Being Mary Jane), Forever is an epic love story of two Black teens exploring romance and their identities through the awkward journey of being each other's firsts, set in Los Angeles circa 2018. The drama is based on Judy Blumes groundbreaking 1975 novel and searches for the source material surged almost 1500% in the days following Forever's release.

After moving the story's setting from Westfield, New Jersey to Los Angeles, the series' creative team wholeheartedly embraced the City of Angels from pre-production all the way to premiere, employing nearly 200 California-based crew for the entire first season and an additional 755 cast and crew during production. Forty-five percent of the production's department heads (11 total) were women, non-binary and/or gender non-conforming, and transgender people of all genders, which helped Forever qualify for the ReFrame Stamp. Production also hosted two trainees in the costume and camera departments as part of the Netflix Next Up IATSE Training Program.

Some of Los Angeles' most iconic landmarks served as backdrops for the eight-episode first season, including the Original Farmers Market, Griffith Park, Santa Monica Pier, Dodger Stadium, the Kia Forum, Grand Central Market, Cinerama Dome, the Culver City Stairs, as well as local favorites like Pinz Bowling Alley, Canter's Deli and El Cholo Spanish Cafe, the city's oldest Mexican restaurant, just to name a few. (For more details on the show's locations and production design, click here.)

Showrunner/executive producer/director Mara Brock Akil, executive producer/director Regina King, star Lovie Simone, executive producer Susie Fitzgerald and the crew behind the scenes of Forever.' (Credit: Elizabeth Morris/Netflix 2024)

Many Los Angeles-based nonprofits and community organizations celebrated the release of the show, which Akil tells Tudum is a love letter to Los Angeles.

Students, teachers and mentors from seven Los Angeles high schools who completed the Good City Mentors program got a sneak peek of the series at an end-of-year celebration event. The group provides mentorship for underserved public high school students, positively impacting student engagement, achievement and graduation rates. The screening was followed by a Q&A with Forever music supervisor Kier Lehman, who discussed his own personal career journey and the important role that music plays in the show.

Forever's soundtrack features many Los Angeles artists like Anderson .Paak, SZA, Tyler, the Creator, Victoria Mon t and Nipsey Hussle, among others. (For more on the music, click here.)

Forever's hair and makeup department heads Yvette Shelton and Golden Shyne met with the current cohort of the NAACP X Handy Foundation Glam Squad Training Program. Funded by Netflix, the program aims to train ten aspiring BIPOC Hair and Makeup artists and provide them with the necessary skills for opportunities to work on film and television sets during a rigorous eight-week program.

Forever's' hair and makeup department heads pictured with the current cohort of the NAACP X Handy Foundation Glam Squad Training Program. (Courtesy of Netflix)

To celebrate the show's premiere, Netflix partnered with Black on the Block - a dynamic Los Angeles-founded organization dedicated to uplifting black-owned businesses through curated community gathering events - for an immersive Forever Market. The market included local food vendors Marathon Burger, Simply Wholesome, Happy Ice and The Cupcake Junkie; music from DJ Cassanova; and giveaways including Forever-inspired jewelry from Asanti by Koi, Forever Rose Candles and custom cushions from The Pillow Lab. Guests included the show's cast and crew as well as local community groups such as Walk Good LA.

Forever is now streaming on Netflix.

Craving more stories set in Los Angeles? Check out Nobody Wants This, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, The Lincoln Lawyer, Love on the Spectrum, The Upshaws, You People, Everybody's Live with John Mulaney and more.

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