Musician, state officials to revamp downtown Shreveport with entertainment real estate.

Grammy Award-winning rapper and Emmy Award-winning actor Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson wants to ramp up the entertainment appeal of downtown Shreveport, Louisiana, home to the production company headed by the music mogul.

Jackson’s production firm G-Unit Film & Television Louisiana LLC is teaming up with the state to spend $124 million upgrading two properties in downtown Shreveport — the 175,000-square-foot StageWorks Louisiana events venue and a 75,000-square-foot film and television production facility called Millennium Studios — and building a domed live entertainment facility and park called G-Dome.

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson
(G-Unit Film & Television)

G-Unit Film & Television Louisiana has been using the city-owned facilities to create a pipeline of scripted series, documentaries and feature films for a variety of networks and streaming platforms since 2023. Recent projects include “Black Mafia Family,” “For Life” and several high-profile true-crime documentaries for Peacock and Hulu.

The production firm’s $75 million portion of the investment gives it operational control but not ownership of Shreveport’s two downtown studio properties, but it will own the new G‑Dome outright. The deal is structured as a partnership in which G‑Unit upgrades and operates the sites in exchange for minimal lease costs and performance‑based state support, allowing the company to build an entertainment hub without the city giving up ownership of its public assets. The state is kicking in $50 million.

“By reinvesting in downtown Shreveport and upgrading existing assets to create state-of-the-art entertainment and production facilities, we are giving the entire entertainment industry a reason to build their futures right here,” Jackson said in a statement. “My goal is to turn northwest Louisiana into the premier destination for film, music, and live entertainment on a national scale.”

The investment comes as Louisiana, once a hotbed of film and TV production, repositions itself as a production alternative to major hubs like California and Georgia, offering aggressive tax credits and infrastructure support.

The state’s film tax incentive program offers producers up to 40% back on qualified spending with bonuses for local hires and Louisiana screenplays, with a $125 million annual cap on credits. That compares to the 35% offered by California with a $750 million annual cap.

‘Hollywood South’

Louisiana adopted a nickname of “Hollywood South” in the mid‑2000s after its motion picture production tax credit fueled a post‑Katrina filming boom, drawing productions like “The Guardian” and “NCIS: New Orleans” with incentives covering up to 40% of in‑state spending without a cap.

Activity plunged after Louisiana capped its tax credit program in 2015, reports indicate. One casualty was Millennium Studios, which opened in 2007 as a film campus built to capitalize on the boom, offering full‑service production facilities and hosting projects like “Battle: Los Angeles.”

The studio shut down in 2016, and Shreveport purchased the dormant property for $3.8 million in December 2021 with plans for a multimedia training and production hub.

G‑Unit took over the complex in January 2024 for $2,400 per year in rent in exchange for assuming all maintenance and upgrades. G-Unit took over another struggling entertainment complex nearby in 2025 when it signed a 30-year lease with the city for the StageWorks property.

G-Unit says it will renovate the spaces with the addition of modern soundstages and technology to better compete with newer studios.

Louisiana is not the only state adding entertainment infrastructure. New Mexico, New York, New Jersey and Texas have all ramped up incentives and investments in recent years to lure more film and television productions.

Competing with modern facilities

Industry observers say that as overall production volume declines, incentives and flexibility are becoming decisive factors in where projects film. Secondary markets like Louisiana are gaining appeal as studios seek cost‑effective, adaptable shooting environments.

At the same time, some developers are shifting plans for new soundstages to other uses as demand weakens. Content creator Tyler Perry recently reversed plans to add soundstages at his sprawling media complex outside Atlanta in favor of retail and restaurants.

Louisiana’s film and television infrastructure is already among the most robust in the South, with major studios in New Orleans and Baton Rouge regularly hosting blockbuster productions and prestige television.

The Celtic Media Center at 10000 Celtic Drive in Baton Rouge, the largest studio facility in the Gulf South, has welcomed films like “Oblivion” and “Greyhound,” while New Orleans’ Second Line Stages has been home to hits like “Django Unchained” and “American Horror Story.”

The Nims Center Studios, at 800-824 Distributors Row in Elmwood, Louisiana, and affiliated with the University of New Orleans, has played a key role in training local talent while supporting award-winning films such as “Twelve Years a Slave” and “Dallas Buyers Club.”