Nine Series, $145.5M in California Credits, $608M in Promised Spending

The latest allocation from the state's expanded film and TV incentive sends nearly $38 million to two Paramount shows — a 'Clueless' series and Viola Davis' 'Ascent' — while the state attorney general sues to block the company's merger.

The California Film Commission announced Monday that nine television series will share $145.5 million from the state's production incentive, with nearly $38 million of that going to two Paramount shows: a Clueless series starring Alicia Silverstone and Ascent, a corporate-fixer drama starring and executive produced by Viola Davis, according to Deadline.

The awards land inside an unusual split screen. Paramount is pursuing a $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading an antitrust suit to stop it, with a trial set for next spring. One arm of state government is writing checks to David Ellison's company while another works to unwind its central deal.

What the money buys, by the state's own numbers

Clueless was allocated just more than $16.3 million; Ascent received $21 million. Both are projected to begin in 2027. The commission's figures put Clueless at more than 300 crew members and $69.4 million in what it called "qualified expenditures" in the Los Angeles economy, and Ascent at more than 250 crew and $47 million.

Across all nine projects, the commission's accounting claims:

• $608 million in direct production spending in California
• $498 million in qualified spend, inclusive of qualified wages
• $291 million in qualified wages
• 3,000 cast and crew jobs
• 25,000 background performer days worked
• 1,014 California shooting days

Comparing those totals against the allocation: the state is committing roughly $1 in credits for every $4.18 in projected in-state production spending, and about $48,500 in credits per claimed cast-and-crew job. Wages account for slightly under half the projected direct spend. On the two Paramount shows, Clueless works out to about $54,000 in credits per crew position and Ascent to about $84,000, though the commission's crew counts are floors — "more than" 300 and 250 — not exact figures.

The program Governor Gavin Newsom expanded now runs to $750 million. This round's other recipients include Newlyweds, executive produced by Jamie Lee Curtis; new seasons of Sony TV's S.W.A.T. Exiles; Universal's revival of The Rockford Files led by David Boreanaz; Netflix's Love Come Softly and an untitled Netflix project set in Florida; Disney's untitled DET Project 51; and an untitled Amazon project.

The backdrop, and what the allocation does not say

Deadline frames the awards against a town that has lost more than 40,000 jobs in recent years, with industry vendors closed, soundstages idle and production moving overseas and out of state.

Both leads spoke to the location question in statements gathered by Deadline. "I'm so grateful that <em>Clueless</em> gets to tell Cher's next chapter in the city where her story began," Silverstone said. "When productions stay here, it supports thousands of artists, crew members, craftspeople, and small businesses who make this city what it is."

Davis called the credit "more than the 'cherry on top;' it's a lifeline for me and a countless number of cast and crew," thanking writer John Logan, producer Michael Aguilar, Paramount and the commission.

What the reporting does not establish is where either Paramount series will physically shoot — which stages, which lots, which neighborhoods absorb the 1,014 shooting days. The jobs and spending figures are projections attributed to state accountants, made before a single day of production has been logged.