Georgia's 20% base film and television tax credit, with a potential 10% promotional uplift for qualifying projects, is the financial engine behind American Idol's departure from Hollywood. Fremantle, the production company behind ABC's singing competition, confirmed the relocation to Fox News Digital on Wednesday. Final negotiations are underway with an Atlanta-area studio complex, Deadline reported.
| Georgia incentive | Rate |
|---|---|
| Base credit | 20% |
| Promotional uplift (qualifying projects) | +10% |
| Potential ceiling | 30% |
Georgia also requires a minimum of $500,000 in qualified in-state spending. California's framework offers no equivalent for unscripted formats. AB 2319, Nick Schultz's entertainment tax credit bill, specifically excludes unscripted programming, according to Lisa Cusack, president of the Don't L.A. My Burbank PAC. "The issue is that Georgia offers generous incentives for reality TV shows, while California often leaves them behind," Cusack told Fox News Digital, calling the move a wake-up call for state officials.
Production infrastructure
Stephen Weizenecker, a partner at Barnes & Thornburg who had a direct role in developing Georgia's Entertainment Industry Investment Act, argued that the state's studio build-out can support the most demanding productions. Tyler Perry Studios, Trilith Studios, and Assembly Studios each offer large sound stages, live-audience capacity, and specialized production services, he said. The Georgia Film Academy, a collaboration among the University System of Georgia, the Technical College System of Georgia, and the Georgia Department of Economic Development, has trained thousands of crew members across disciplines, producing what Weizenecker described as a self-sustaining ecosystem of IATSE-qualified workers based in Georgia full-time.
Idol's move lands against a louder backdrop. Paramount CEO David Ellison threatened last month to relocate Paramount's headquarters to Georgia, Tennessee, or Texas if California Attorney General Rob Bonta did not settle by October 1 in the state's challenge to Paramount's $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. Puck News reported that Ellison has developed a five-year plan to move the majority of Paramount jobs out of California regardless of the merger's outcome.
Carrie Underwood, who won Idol in 2005 and now serves as a judge, has lived on a 400-acre farm in Franklin, Tennessee since leaving Hollywood in 2019.