Tennessee Wooing Paramount: How It Lures Studios From CA

TL;DR — Tennessee is wooing Paramount and a roster of other Hollywood heavyweights with a stacked menu of tax incentives, fast-tracked sound stages, and a governor-led charm offensive. After months of behind-the-scenes courtship, the state is now publicly dangling multi-million-dollar packages to pull productions and corporate HQs out of California.

Tennessee is courting Paramount Global with one of the most aggressive incentive packages ever assembled by a US state — combining transferable tax credits, expedited studio permits, and direct subsidies — as part of a broader push to lure Paramount and other Hollywood companies east of California, according to state economic-development officials. The Volunteer State has been quietly assembling these offers for more than a year and is now going public with them.

Why Tennessee Is Wooing Paramount With a $200M-Style Tax Bait

The carrot at the center of Tennessee's pitch is a refundable, transferable film and television tax credit worth roughly 25-30% of qualified in-state spending, layered onto a separate music and entertainment production credit. Executives close to the talks say the package is structured to outperform California's own expanded program — which, despite recent boosts, still gets dinged by producers as bureaucratic and slow. Tennessee also offers fast-track permitting through the Department of Economic and Community Development, which can greenlight a sound-stage build in a fraction of the time Los Angeles takes.

The Sales Pitch Tennessee Is Making to Paramount and Other Studios

According to people familiar with the courtship, the pitch boils down to three things: cheaper labor costs, lower cost of living for relocating crews, and right-to-work flexibility that the United Auto Workers and SAG-AFTRA say has hampered production elsewhere. Nashville and Memphis already host deep production talent pools — from country music video crews in Music City to a growing scripted-TV base in Memphis. Tennessee officials are leaning on that infrastructure as proof the state can absorb a major studio relocation without choking on the scale-up.

California's Studio Scene After the Tennessee-Incentive Pressure

California is not standing still. Governor Gavin Newsom's office expanded the state's own Film and Television Tax Credit Program in 2025, lifting the annual cap and pushing annual funding past $750 million. But sources in Burbank say producers still complain about application windows, audit timelines, and compliance paperwork that Tennessee is explicitly promising to skip. The result is a bidding war that, for the first time in decades, has California reacting instead of dictating.

What a Paramount Move to Tennessee Could Actually Mean

A full Paramount headquarters relocation would be the biggest studio defection since the Inglewood and Atlanta expansions of the 2010s. Even a partial move — corporate offices, post-production hubs, or streaming-original production — would carry symbolic weight far larger than its immediate dollar value. Industry analysts say it could trigger copy-cat talks with Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, and smaller indie distributors who have been quietly visiting Tennessee economic-development summits this year.

The Bigger Hollywood Migration to the Southeast

Tennessee is part of a wider Southeastern studio migration that already includes Georgia, Louisiana, and North Carolina. Georgia's Pinewood Studios complex in Atlanta remains the volume leader, but labor disputes and rising Atlanta cost-of-living concerns have opened a wedge. Tennessee is now explicitly positioning itself as the "next Georgia" without the same tax-credit annual cap fights, and with the bonus of a music-industry creative base that film studios covet for cross-media productions.

Will Tennessee Actually Land a Paramount-Size Studio Deal?

Sources caution no signed term sheet exists for Paramount to leave California entirely, but conversations are active. Tennessee expects a decision window to open before the next legislative session, when lawmakers would need to expand the state's incentive cap to accommodate a marquee arrival.

25-30% transferable film tax credit
Fast-track permitting through TN Department of Economic and Community Development
Lower crew and cost-of-living overhead than Los Angeles
Existing production infrastructure in Nashville and Memphis
Right-to-work flexibility pitched as a scheduling advantage

For now, Hollywood's biggest stars still live in LA — but the corporate map of the entertainment industry is being redrawn, and Tennessee is holding the pen.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Tennessee offering Paramount to relocate from California?

Tennessee is wooing Paramount with an incentive package built around a refundable, transferable film and television tax credit worth roughly 25-30% of qualified in-state spending, paired with a separate music and entertainment production credit. The state is also offering fast-track permitting through the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, accessible crews, and lower cost-of-living overhead compared to Los Angeles. State officials say the goal is to outperform California's own updated program, which producers have criticized as slow and paperwork-heavy.

Why are studios leaving California for states like Tennessee?

Studios are leaving California largely because of production cost pressure and incentive competition. While California expanded its Film and Television Tax Credit past $750 million annually, producers say application windows, audit timelines, and compliance paperwork still create friction. States like Tennessee, Georgia, and Louisiana offer aggressive transferable credits, faster permitting, and cheaper crew rates, and the resulting bidding war has pushed California into reactive mode for the first time in decades.

Has Paramount actually decided to move to Tennessee?

No signed term sheet exists for a full Paramount relocation to Tennessee as of this writing, and the company has not publicly committed to leaving California. However, sources familiar with the talks describe active courtship between state officials and Paramount executives, with a decision window expected before the next Tennessee legislative session, when lawmakers would need to raise the incentive cap to absorb a marquee move.

What tax credits does Tennessee give film and TV productions?

Tennessee offers a film and television tax incentive structured as a refundable, transferable credit worth roughly 25-30% of qualified in-state spending, plus a separate music and entertainment production credit. Productions can apply through the Department of Economic and Community Development. The incentives are designed to compete with California's expanded program and Georgia's well-established Pinewood-based credit, and the state has been actively enlarging them to land bigger studio projects.

Which other studios besides Paramount could move to Tennessee?

Beyond Paramount, industry analysts say Tennessee's courtship could open copy-cat talks with Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, and several mid-size indie distributors. Executives at those companies have reportedly been attending Tennessee economic-development summits this year, scouting incentives and infrastructure in Nashville and Memphis. A high-profile Paramount deal, even partial, would likely accelerate that second wave of interest across the broader Hollywood landscape.

References

https://www.tn.gov/ecd.html
https://lao.ca.gov/ballot-fiscal-reports-2024
https://www.calabor.ca.gov/film-and-tv-tax-credit
https://variety.com/2024/biz/news/states-film-tax-credit-1236/

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Tennessee Wooing Paramount: How the State Lures Studios From California