SUNSHINE STATE was filmed entirely on Amelia Island, which like its counterpart in the film, is home to a traditionally white enclave and a traditionally black enclave, called American Beach. As producer Maggie Renzi explains, “A. L. Lewis was one of the several men who started the Afro-American Insurance Company, which was one of the first big black businesses. Lewis understood that there was nowhere for his workers and other black people to go to the beach in segregated Florida in the 20's. In 1935, with the cooperation of, among other people, Eleanor Roosevelt, he was able to purchase this big piece of beachfront and there was an exodus every Friday night from Jacksonville and everyone would go out to the beach for the weekend, including performers like Cab Callaway and Ray Charles, people like that. They'd finish their gig in Jacksonville and then come and club at night, on American Beach. Its just the sort of history that fascinates John, who is, in any case, fascinated by African American history, and history in general.”

John Sayles discovered Amelia Island while scouting locations for another project based on a short story he had written years before, about treasure hunters on the west coast of Florida. As he recalls, “I was struck by how changed the small towns there were from my last extensive visit fifteen years earlier. The Florida I had written about didn’t exist anymore. I came across a mention of Amelia Island and the American Beach community in a “Lonely Planet” guide – I’d always been fascinated with the American Beach phenomenon and decided to go there and give the Florida idea one more shot. What I found was an island with all the elements – old and new, “Mom and Pop” businesses and corporate chains, gated communities, history as myth and tourist attraction, real estate as the hotly contested central issue in politics and parallel racial enclaves, all crammed into a relatively small area.” The characters in SUNSHINE STATE quickly sprang forth – “they evolved from the idea of black people and white people living parallel lives that occasionally intersect. One woman is realizing she needs to leave, while the other is discovering that she may be able to return.”