NC awards grant for ongoing Beast Games filming. Five things to know.

North Carolina has awarded a $15 million grant to “Beast Games” Season 3, the largest film incentive the state offers for a single TV season. It’s the second straight year the state has given the maximum rebate to MrBeast’s Amazon Prime reality competition.

FULL STORY: New season, new incentive: NC offers MrBeast’s Amazon show another $15 million

Here are key takeaways:

• The N.C. Department of Commerce approved the grant, which caps rebates at 25% of expenses. That means Amazon and MrBeast plan to spend at least $60 million in North Carolina this season.
• Season 3 is filming in and around Greenville, the hometown of host Jimmy Donaldson, 28, the world’s most-followed YouTuber with more than 494 million subscribers. On May 24, thousands of fans packed East Carolina University’s Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium to appear in an episode.
• Contestants compete through challenges for a $5 million top prize. Season 1 filmed in Nevada, but at least 80% of Season 2 was shot in North Carolina, around Wilmington and Greenville.
• State Film Office Director Guy Gaster said the grant is why the show films in North Carolina. “There are certainly people who have asked, ‘Why are you giving this production an incentive? They were going to be in North Carolina regardless,’” Gaster said. “And they have proven that, no, they would not necessarily shoot this in the state.”
• Critics question the program. Jon Sanders of the John Locke Foundation has called for ending the fund, arguing film grants don’t require recipients to hit job-creation targets like other incentive programs.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by Brian Gordon of The News & Observer. The full story in the link at top was reported and written by Brian Gordon.