A new teen television series on The CW network, The Vampire Diaries based on author L.J. Smith’s 1991 trilogy of books, will be filmed in downtown Covington beginning July 21.

Warner Brothers representatives spoke at Monday’s city council meeting to let the city know its plans and receive tentative permission to film on the square, and on Floyd and Washington streets among other downtown locales.

Representatives said they chose Covington because of the great incentives offered by Georgia and the film-friendly environment of Covington. Bonanza Productions in association with Warner Brothers will film 12 episodes in Covington, and will be shooting from July 21 until around April.

The producers hope the show will be picked up for a second season. Councilwoman Janet Goodman joked that the series will be successful because “vampire stuff is on the up and up.”

The Vampire Diaries shares many similarities to the more recently popular Twilight series, centering on a high school student who becomes interested in a mysterious male classmate who turns out to be a vampire.

Below is the description from The CW Web site:

“Elena Gilbert has always been a star student: beautiful, popular and involved with school and friends. As the fall semester begins, Elena becomes fascinated with the mysterious new boy in school, Stefan Salvatore, and she has no way of knowing he is a centuries-old vampire. While Stefan struggles to live peacefully among humans, his brother Damon is the embodiment of violence and brutality. Now these two vampire brothers – one good, one evil - are at war for Elena’s soul in the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia.”

Fans of Smith’s book series should expect a few significant changes from the books according to various fan sites and discussion, including an altered appearance of the main character, the main character having a brother instead of a sister and a town with a different name and character.

For more on this story check out Wednesday’s newspaper and covnews.com.