The Wachowskis Begin Filming of New Netflix Series, Sense8, in San Francisco

The Matrix creators bring new Netflix series to SF and seven other cities.

A mini dyke march of 10 motorcycles repeatedly rumbled down a block of 18th Street in San Francisco Wednesday, as The Matrix masterminds Andy and Lana Wachowski stood behind a bank of monitors watching the images captured by the multi-camera crew.

One of Netflix’s newest series, Sense8, is filming in San Francisco, with Andy and Lana Wachowski partnering with Babylon 5 TV series creator Joe Straczynski to bring “a gripping global tale of minds linked and souls hunted,” according to the March 2013 press release from Netflix.

Between takes Wednesday, Lana Wachowski took a break and chatted with spectators standing in front of the Women’s Building on 18th Street as the crew reset. It seemed most didn’t know who she was, so we took the opportunity to pepper her with a few questions.

Wachowski said the show will be 10 episodes, focusing on eight characters in eight different cities around the world.

The Netflix press release said the Sense8 release date should be launched, “exclusively to its members to watch instantly in late 2014.”

Lana Wachowski also said that they would be filming more scenes on Saturday, June 28, during the actual dyke march, which starts at Dolores Park and heads down 18th Street before turning left onto Valencia Street.

As the crew was breaking down around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Andy Wachowski confirmed that Wednesday marked the first day of production, with three more shooting weeks scheduled for San Francisco.

"We're excited to work with Netflix and Georgeville Television on this project, and we've wanted to work with Joe Straczynski for years, chiefly due to the fact his name is harder to pronounce than ours, but also because we share a love of genre and all things nerdy," said Andy and Lana Wachowski. "Several years ago, we had a late night conversation about the ways technology simultaneously unites and divides us, and out of that paradox Sense8 was born," reads the Netflix press release.

Lana Wachowski lives in San Francisco, and the Wachowskis used Oakland and Alameda as a backdrop for shooting on the Matrix sequels. After San Francisco, shooting will continue in Chicago, London, Berlin, Iceland, Mexico City, Mumbai, Nairobi, and Seoul, South Korea,.

Acording to a tvline.com article, Sense8 characters include, "a closeted Mexican telenovela hunk, an Icelandic party girl, a German safe-cracker, a Korean businesswoman, an African bus driver and a transgender American blogger (a la Lana?). Perhaps most intriguing, though, are Jonas, an apparently magic African-American who appears to all of the 'visionaries,' and his evil counterpart, Mr. Whispers."

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