N.C. remakes itself as a home for mid-budget movies and TV shows

Driving the news: But the types of products coming to North Carolina in 2024 are different than what the state saw in the early 2010s, according to WUNC's Charlie Shelton-Ormond.

• That period was the heyday of filming in North Carolina, with productions like "One Tree Hill" and "The Conjuring" in Wilmington, as well as "Homeland" in Charlotte.

Context: No matter how beautiful North Carolina is as a set, financial incentives are one of the biggest deciding factors to where studios put their films, Guy Gaster, director of the North Carolina Film Office, told "The Broadside."

• In the early 2000s, North Carolina offered a 25% tax credit for productions that hit certain spending thresholds in the state.
• In 2014, however, state lawmakers tweaked the incentive to a 25% rebate, but significantly lowered the cap on how much a project could get.

Between the lines: In effect, this has made North Carolina home for mid-size productions, like "Halloween Kills" or "The Summer I Turned Pretty," while big "Avengers-"style movies have gravitated toward states like Georgia that have no cap.

By the numbers: Attracting mid-size productions can still be good business.

• In 2012, before the 2014 incentives change, both "Iron Man" and "The Hunger Games" were filmed here. The state saw direct spending from the film industry reach $376 million and create 20,000 job opportunities.
• In 2021, though, the state broke that record with $416 million spent and more than 28,000 jobs.

• By 2022, the number was $258 million. 2023's figure fell to around $80 million, with labor strikes affecting the film industry. As of July 1, the industry generated around $140 million, according to "The Broadside."

The bottom line: 2021's number benefitted from pent-up demand from the pandemic, and recent years have been hamstrung by labor strikes.

• Gaster told "The Broadside" that $300 million per year is a realistic target for the state.

What they're saying: "The new reality for the film industry in North Carolina is that we're not getting those tentpole movies, like 'Iron Man 3,' because those aren't the right fit for [the state's] financial incentives," Shelton-Ormond told Axios.

• "Instead of one 'Iron Man,'" he added, "We might have four movies that are mid-budget. They might not be really grabbing as many headlines ... but they're still coming to the state."

Listen to "The Broadside's" episode here or on Spotify.