{"id":849413,"date":"2026-09-16T05:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T05:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/849413\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T05:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T05:12:09","slug":"as-american-idol-moves-from-l-a-to-atlanta-more-runaway-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/849413\/","title":{"rendered":"As ‘American Idol’ Moves From L.A. to Atlanta, More Runaway Production"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tForget Hollywood. \u201cAmerican Idol<\/a>\u201d is heading to Georgia, dawg.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn news that felt all too depressingly common in production-starved Los Angeles, word emerged Tuesday that \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d \u2014 which has been broadcast live from Los Angeles since it originated in 2002 \u2014 would move production to Georgia.<\/p>\n

\n\tABC, as well as producers Fremantle and 19 Entertainment (via owner Sony Pictures TV), didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment about the news. But it makes \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d the latest studio-based reality competition series to pull up stakes and leave Los Angeles in search of tax incentives and lower costs. <\/p>\n

\n\tFox\u2019s \u201cThe Masked Singer,\u201d for example, has moved to New Jersey, having most recently shot on the Fox lot in Century City. Also, ABC\u2019s \u201cShark Tank,\u201d which had been produced on the Sony lot in Culver City, has moved to Atlanta, as has Fox\u2019s \u201cLego Masters,\u201d formerly shot in Van Nuys. And game shows like \u201cFamily Feud\u201d and \u201cCelebrity Family Feud\u201d have also relocated to the Atlanta area.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe loss of more reality and game series production in California comes even as the state\u2019s film and television tax credit program has expanded to include unscripted fare. But there\u2019s a catch: Those competition shows must have a budget of more than $1 million per episode. That makes it difficult to qualify, even for major shows like \u201cAmerican Idol.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe California incentives still don\u2019t include docuseries, talk shows or game shows. States like New Jersey and Georgia, on the other hand, don\u2019t limit their incentives. Georgia\u2019s tax incentives require a total production spend of $500,000, making it more attractive for shows like \u201cAmerican Idol.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cReality and unscripted television remain excluded (with the exception of competition shows), despite being one of California\u2019s most productive, scalable, and culturally influential sectors. At a time when producers are navigating shrinking license fees, shorter episode orders, and tighter margins, the ongoing omission of this entire category raises real questions about the long-term viability of keeping these productions in-state,\u201d Weinstein Senior owner Todd Weinstein, Esq., wrote in a post on LinkedIn last year.<\/p>\n

Reality television has been a foundational part of California\u2019s production economy for decades,\u201d he added. \u201cThese shows generate thousands of jobs, support local vendors, keep post facilities running, and increasingly require the same physical infrastructure as scripted content. They might look different with faster schedules, leaner teams, and alternative storytelling structures but they are no less real in terms of economic impact. Still, they continue to sit outside the framework of the tax credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAmerican Idol\u201d was broadcast from Television City in the Fairfax district for most of its run; it later shifted to Red Studios Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\n\tDeadline was first with the news about \u201cAmerican Idol\u2019s\u201d move to Georgia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forget Hollywood. \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d is heading to Georgia, dawg. In news that felt all too depressingly common in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[12287,88,92],"class_list":["post-849413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-american-idol","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}