It all started in 1987 with the movie "Crimes of the Heart" starring Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange, and Diane Keaton, a movie about three Southern sisters coming home after the death of a family member. The film was shot primarily at 211 Caswell Avenue. The home has gone through a renovation recently, but it is still known locally as "The Crimes of the Heart House".

In the early 90's the Disney movie, "Spies", was filmed at various homes on Bay Street and along the waterfront. The movie centered around a little boy who saw German submarines in the harbor in front of his home in Long Island, New York. Cloris Leachman and David Dukes were the stars.

Scenes from "The Crying Child" with Mariel Hemingway, "Birds II, Lands End" with Tippi Hedron, "Amos and Andrew" with Nicholas Cage, Dixie Carter, and Samuel L. Jackson were filmed in Southport. More recent movies filmed in Southport include "I Know What You Did Last Summer", "Summer Catch" with Brian Dennehy and Freddie Prince, Jr. and the series "Dawson's Creek".

Television production companies have also "discovered" Southport. "Matlock" with Andy Griffith, "American Gothic" written & produced by Shaun Cassidy and starring Gary Cole, and "Morning Glory", a new TV sitcom, have all done work here.

The USA Network movie "The Three Lives of Karen" - Two-time Emmy nominee Gail O'Grady (NYPD Blues) stars as a woman suffering from fugue amnesia, causing her to forget years of her life due to stress related to circumstances of her present existence. O'Grady's character, Karen, actually experiences this twice in her life and, both times, travels to a new area to start over, leaving trauma which is too difficult for her conscious mind to handle.

"The Grave", an HBO movie, and "The Perfect Daughter", a made for TV movie with Lindsey Wagner, show scenes in the Franklin Square Art Gallery. Even the BBC traveled to Southport to film aspects of "Lovejoy".