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The film industry has been a boon for North Carolina, but some worry it’s fading to black.
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Productions for popular movies and TV shows — ranging from the “The Summer I Turned Pretty” to “Top Chef” — have flocked here in recent years. In 2025 alone, the state reported that film projects led to local spending that topped $185 million.
For larger productions, the N.C. Film & Entertainment Grant has been the biggest draw to North Carolina. Now, guidance about the program’s funding structure has quietly changed, sparking fears that future filming opportunities will dry up and leave the state’s entertainment workers without jobs.
The creator of “Kildare” — an upcoming prequel to the Netflix teen series “Outer Banks” — told Port City Daily he may not film in his home state of North Carolina. And after two seasons of filming in the Charlotte area, the Netflix drama “The Hunting Wives” is moving its third season to another state, possibly Georgia, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
“We have had many conversations with Lionsgate about that production, trying to find a way to make an award to it so they could film this next season,” N.C. Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley told WSOC, The Observer’s media partner. “Unfortunately, given our situation, we are not able to do that at this time, which is a huge disappointment to us.”
As lawmakers scramble to find a solution, here’s what we know about the change to film industry incentives and how it could impact the North Carolina economy.
To learn about the change in film incentives, The News & Observer reached out to more than a dozen people who work in government and entertainment. Some asked that we direct our inquiries to the N.C. Department of Commerce, which shared the following statement in a Sept. 15 email:
“North Carolina’s film industry creates great jobs for the talented film crew professionals, the small businesses, and the hospitality sector in the communities across our state. Over the last decade, production companies have invested $1.3 billion and created 67,000 jobs in North Carolina.”
To make the state an appealing location for filming, the N.C. Film and Entertainment Grant said it offers a 25% rebate for productions that spend money here. For the past seven years, the money has been awarded up front and then distributed after projects end.
Now, instead of awarding grants with money it expects to receive, the commerce department has been asked to work with the funds that are available. The state budget passed in July includes the typical amount of $31 million in film incentives, and a bill included an additional $15 million to cover funding gaps, state Sen. Michael Lee, the current Senate Majority Leader, told Port City Daily.
But as of Sept. 15, North Carolina has a backlog of $106 million it needs to give out. So though current productions can continue, the commerce department said no significant incentives can be granted for future projects until 2029, news outlets reported.
Lee, whose office didn’t respond to The N&O’s requests for comment, pushed back at the way the department characterized the situation. He told the Greater Wilmington Business Journal: “What the General Assembly never did was authorize this program to obligate money it didn’t have, and no guidance from any budget official can supply authority the law does not.”
The change comes after North Carolina saw a “strong start to 2026,” with a combination of new productions and others that carried over from 2025, Guy Gaster, director of the N.C. Film Office, told The N&O via email in July.
Around that time, projects with ties to the state included season two of “The Hunting Wives,” season two of the ABC crime drama “R.J. Decker” and the pilot of the Disney show “Saltwater.”
So what makes North Carolina an attractive place for filming?
“For the larger productions, the state’s Film & Entertainment Grant and its availability is the biggest factor followed by a strong workforce, established infrastructure, and the variety of location possibilities found within the state,” Gaster wrote.
New Hanover County resident Jennifer Doll said some Wilmington-area families like hers have been working in the film industry for years, with some passing down the knowledge of their craft to other generations. She is married to Matt Doll, who works as A Camera/Steadicam operator on the set of “R.J. Decker.”
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“Without the productions that came to film here, our family couldn’t have remained in North Carolina,” Doll told The N&O in a Sept. 23 Facebook message. “Matt has worked on productions for almost 30 years. During the 30 years we have been residents in North Carolina, our money has contributed to taxes, churches, charities and businesses. Our children live and work in the North Carolina, and we continue to want to bring prosperity to our state.”
If North Carolina can’t find a new funding structure, some warn that workers could disappear. Jonas Pate, who is from North Carolina and created the “Outer Banks” series, has called for raising the film grant threshold in this state as he considers basing his next project in South Carolina.
“A film industry is not a factory that can be idled and switched back on,” Pate, who didn’t respond to The N&O’s requests for comment, wrote Aug. 29 in a Wilmington StarNews column. “It is people — grips, gaffers, costumers, carpenters, camera operators, location managers, caterers — most of them our neighbors, many of them second- and third-generation film workers. Nobody can last three years with no income.”
Of the film professionals who stay in North Carolina, some may be out of jobs and health insurance. Taking “The Hunting Wives” and other productions out of the state also could have immediate impacts on small businesses, such as lumberyards that helped with set building, Darla McGlamery, business agent for the union International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 491, told The N&O in a Sept. 22 phone interview.
It wouldn’t be the first disruption to the state’s film industry.
North Carolina-set “Outer Banks” previously left the state in response to 2016’s so-called “bathroom bill,” which restricted which bathrooms transgender people could use before it was repealed. Some parts of the five-season series were shot in the state, but most of the filming was done elsewhere, The Observer and The N&O previously reported.
On Sept. 15, Lilley and Gov. Josh Stein visited Cinespace Studios in Wilmington, a hub of production in the state. Though Stein’s office didn’t share specific action items in an emailed statement to The N&O, the governor has expressed support for filming.
“North Carolina’s film industry is an important part of our economy, supporting thousands of jobs and bringing millions in investment to our state,” Stein wrote in a news release. “We must protect that success and give productions the certainty they need to continue to invest here for the long term.”
Moving forward, Pate called for a two-step solution in the StarNews column, asking legislators to “recapitalize the fund now, so rebates already promised are honored” and “raise the annual allotment so that success is never again treated as a crisis.”
Meanwhile, the commerce department in its statement said it’s “committed to working with the General Assembly to ensure that the program has the resources needed to compete for future film and television productions.”
Lee said film incentive spending wasn’t tightly controlled in the past, resulting in the need for the extra $15 million.
“Taxpayers and the industry both deserve a program that is managed responsibly and lives within the substantial resources the state provides,” Lee told Port City Daily in a statement. “My focus now is accountability, so we are not back in this position a year from now.”
Without entertainment jobs, the Dolls and other residents could pack up and leave.
“It will directly impact my family, as well as others both in Wilmington and other parts of the state,” Doll wrote. “Quite simply, with no work, we would probably leave Wilmington, and North Carolina, for somewhere that supports film and TV.”
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