NC filmmakers spend more than $258 million on productions in 2022

RALEIGH, N.C. (WECT) - Filmmakers spent more than $258 million on productions in North Carolina in 2022 as North Carolina Film and Entertainment Grant incentives continue to support the state’s film industry.

According to the NC Commerce Department, 2022 had the sixth-highest year-end total since 2000, when the state started offering the incentives.

“North Carolina continues to attract great film, television, and streaming projects that bring good jobs to our state,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “Last year, these projects helped create 16,000 job opportunities, including 3,000 crew and talent positions for our state’s highly skilled production workforce.”

The program provides financial assistance to attract feature film and television productions to stimulate economic activity and create jobs in the state.

In 2022, 74 film, television, and streaming projects had production-related activities in all eight of the state’s prosperity zones, including the following previously announced N.C. Film and Entertainment Grant awardees:

TV/streaming series

• “George and Tammy”
• “Welcome to Flatch”
• “Hightown”
• “The Summer I Turned Pretty

Studio feature-length films

• “Untitled Please Don’t Destroy Project”
• “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat”

Independent feature-length films

• “Boys of Summer”
• “The Other Zoey”
• “Providence”
• “ABG and Her Monster”
• “Site”
• “Eric LaRue”
• “Mother Couch”

Made-for-TV/streaming movies

• “Heaven Sent” (filmed as “Second Time Around”)
• “To Her, With Love.”

2022 finished with two additional film grant awardees. The Netflix dating series “The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On”, which filmed a full season in the greater Charlotte area received a reserved grant of up to $1.57 million. Wilmington-area project “Untitled Band Pilot” was awarded a $625,000 reserved grant.

In addition to the grant awardees, several local productions, travel shows, reality series and national commercials were filmed:

• “Life in the Fast Lane”
• “Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks”
• “Indian Matchmaker”
• “Beachfront Bargain Hunt”
• “90 Day Fiancé”
• “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives”
• “Pawn Stars”
• “A Little Prayer”
• “A Song for Imogene”

Year-end production figures also included spending by national commercials for Twisted Tea, Chevrolet, U.S. Cellular and Smartwool, among others.

“Our film industry is an economic multiplier for North Carolina,” said N.C. Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “These projects not only provide thousands of job opportunities for our talented workforce, but they also support the small business communities surrounding every production set, positively impacting the local economies where they film.”

Five new productions are underway in the state this year, generating direct in-state spending estimated at over $98.5 million while creating more than 9,700 job opportunities, according to the N.C. Department of Commerce.

These latest productions include:

• “A Biltmore Christmas” which follows a young writer who is researching a holiday movie that was previously filmed at the Biltmore Estate and then gets transported back in time. Approved for a grant up to $1,087,500, the project completed filming in January and is scheduled to be part of the Hallmark Channel’s “Countdown to Christmas” later this year.
• The recently wrapped made-for-TV/streaming feature “Zoey 102″ (filmed as “Electric Love”) filmed in the greater Wilmington area about a group of high school friends who reunite for a friend’s wedding. The project is approved for a film grant of up to $3.5 million.
• “A Bigger Slice of Sky” is a made-for-TV/streaming feature that is currently filming in and around southeastern North Carolina. The project is a about a struggling musician who moves back to her childhood home and discovers a recording from her deceased father confessing to a crime. The project is eligible for a grant rebate of $375,000.
• A crime drama set in the mountains of North Carolina and will begin filming in early Spring in the greater Charlotte area, “Blue Ridge” features a modern-Western hero in an Appalachian town that time, and justice, have forgotten. This series will be distributed by Imagicomm Entertainment and has been approved for a film grant up to $1,582,473.
• “Summer Camp” is an independent feature that will be filming in western North Carolina later this spring. The film follows three childhood friends who spent every summer at a sleep away camp and decide to seize the opportunity to return for a camp reunion. The production is approved for a grant rebate of up to $2,937,500.

“Following a successful year, it’s great to have multiple projects already making an impact in the state in 2023,” added Guy Gaster, director of the North Carolina Film Office. “It’s no longer a secret that our state is wide open for filming, and we look forward to continuing to build off our successes in 2021 and 2022.”

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