Abhiroop Das
Created by Jonathan Glatzer, AMC’s ‘The Audacity’ unfolds in the rarefied ecosystem of Silicon Valley, where everything seems to be going wrong for tech CEO Duncan Park. Though his data-mining company, Hypergnosis, has a clean record on the surface, on the inside it appears to be within inches of sinking as a whole. Desperate for answers, Duncan seeks out a psychologist named Joanne Welder, and though their conversations seem to move towards a positive direction at first, things soon spiral out of control.
Before long, the dramedy series turns into a battle for survival for Duncan, with him preparing to use any and every tool in his arsenal, no matter the legalities. While much of the show is centered around the intersection of tech and power, it’s not always focused on the worries of adults. The elite school known as Las Altas soon grows into a major location in the narrative, perfectly reflecting the chaos of the rest of Silicon Valley.
Las Altas is Invented as Part of the Show’s Dramatization of Silicon Valley
Las Altas is the name of a fictional elite school created by the writing team of ‘The Audacity,’ which is spearheaded by Jonathan Glatzer. As a setting, Las Altas plays into the larger idea for the show, which is to satirize life in Silicon Valley. From what we know, the school is amongst the most prestigious institutions in the region, and just so happens to be where the children of all the main characters study. This includes the teens Orson Stern, Tess Phister, and Jamison Park-Hoffsteader, who start out as less than-friendly classmates but take on a unique dynamic over the course of the narrative. This is in line with how Glatzer conceptualized the series, as from the start, he was more interested in carving out the interiorities of his character against the backdrop of a tech-infused environment.
Given what we know about Las Altas, it is possible that the crew drew loose inspiration from real-life prestigious schools in and around Silicon Valley. One such potential inspiration is Harker School, which is located in San Jose and spread across three campuses on Bucknell, Union, and Saratoga streets, respectively. Another major school in the region that might have been a loose reference is Menlo School, which is located at 50 Valparaiso Avenue in Atherton. However, aside from their location and the fact that they are distinguished institutions, there appear to be no similarities between the schools and Las Altas. Instead, it is more probable that the creators relied on a broader template of an elite school and then filled it with original details that fit the plot.
Though the show is set in California’s San Francisco Bay Area, it was filmed in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, with Ironwood Studios at 888 Southeast Marine Drive serving as a primary backdrop. The studio boasts seven sound stages, and it is possible that some of them were used to tape the interior shots of Las Altas. While the exact shooting locations for its exterior visuals cannot be determined at the time of writing, it is likely that the crew relied on the general aesthetic of a high-end school to add to the show’s immersion effect. Las Altas, just like other fictional elements in the show, serves the larger social infrastructure that Glatzer and his writing team have set out to examine, which makes it more than just a backdrop to sequences, but almost a character in itself.
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