By Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee

A spacious foothills ranch house north of Placerville was L.A. north on Monday as transplant filmmaker Deon Taylor continued work on his new movie “Meet the Blacks.”

The courtyard between the home and the garage – overlooking the rolling El Dorado County landscape – was the backlot as young actors and experienced comics took turns posing for pictures with comedy veteran Paul Mooney. Taylor, who is from Chicago but now calls Sacramento home, said he likes to shoot close to home and build the Sacramento film scene.

“While I’m independent and I can choose where to make it, I choose to do it where I can sleep in my own bed at night,” said Taylor, whose previous credits include “Chain Letter” and “Supremacy” with Danny Glover set to be released Jan. 30. “Meet the Blacks” stars comedian Mike Epps, but also features comedians Lil Duval, former boxer Mike Tyson, Mooney and others.

Films set in Northern California have been relatively rare in recent years in part because California’s film tax incentives were no longer competitive with other markets that give major rebates for movies being shot there, said Kathleen Dodge, executive director of the El Dorado/Lake Tahoe film and media office.

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