Miss USA pageant looks to return to Louisiana, is reported to be scouting in Shreveport

By Chelsea Brasted cbrasted@nola.com,

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

The Miss USA pageant looks to return to Louisiana for the first time since Baton Rouge hosted the annual production in 2015.

A film tax credit application for the pageant has been filed with Louisiana Economic Development. Although the application filing merely shows interest and is not a guarantee the pageant will film here, KTAL reported this week that Miss USA officials were scouting locations in Shreveport. The LED application details immediately available did not indicate the specific location where filming would take place.

The pageant's trip to north Louisiana would represent a return; it previously filmed its major annual production in Shreveport 1998 and 1999, and its sister pageant, Miss Teen USA, filmed there in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

The LED application estimates it would spend a total $5.7 million, $5 million of which would be in Louisiana. The application indicates $275,000 of the total would be spent on a Louisiana workforce.

Miss USA's previous trip to Louisiana, when Baton Rouge hosted it in 2015, was not all glitz and glam.

That year, the previous owner of the Miss USA pageant, Donald Trump, had just announced his bid for president with offensive language about undocumented immigrants. The speech had immediate repercussions for the pageant as Univision and NBC dropped the broadcast, and celebrity judges and performers backed out of performing. Ultimately, the production was picked up by Reelz Channel and former pageant queens stepped in as judges. In the following months, the pageant was sold to entertainment company IMG, and Fox picked up the national broadcasting rights.

Wherever the pageant ends up, it will feature some Shreveport representation: The woman who will represent Louisiana in the 2018 pageant calls the city home. Louisiana Tech graduate Lauren Vizza, 27, is a morning news anchor for KTAL.

The Miss USA pageant differs from the other nationally known pageant franchise, Miss America, in that it does not require participants to perform a talent, and its winners move on to compete in the international competition Miss Universe.

http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2018/03/miss_usa_pageant_host_city.html