How California Stole 2 TV Shows From New York And Atlanta

Come to Hollywood, they say! You'll be a big star, they say! Well, there are a lot of other places making that claim too with production companies shooting TV and movies in Vancouver, Georgia, New York, etc. But Hollywood strikes back. And it's been offering a tax credit program from the California Film Commission to lure shows and movies home.

They just snagged two shows that are relocating out west -- NBC's Good Girls from Atlanta and Lifetime's You from New York City -- for their second seasons, thanks in part to that incentive program.

Not that the shows are set any closer to where they were set before. Good Girls was set in Michigan, while You was set in New York. Sorry for California's success making your TV a little less authentic, everyone.

"We're bringing long-term, high-quality jobs in-state as we reaffirm our commitment to fighting runaway production," the commission's Executive Director Amy Lemisch said in a statement.

Good Girls was the first show that's moved under the program from Georgia, while You is the fourth from New York -- it follows The Affair, The OA, and Sneaky Pete. Fifteen shows have moved to Cali from other states and countries with help from those tax incentives, according to the California Film Commission.

The two shows are set to employ 420 crew members, 429 cast, and 7,060 (!) extras and stand-ins. They're getting a cool $15.4 million in tax credits, but are spending $61.4 million on what the commission considers "qualified expenditures," which include wages for below-the-line workers and payments to in-state vendors.

The tax incentive program is now in its fourth year, and was extended last week for another five years. It's proven popular, to the point that the five-day TV application window was only open to shows relocating and recurring series that had already been accepted into the program.

But they're accepting another round of TV projects later this year. So start working on your spec scripts, friends.

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