Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro Eyes California Production Move

Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro Eyes California Production Move

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BBC Studios is looking to move production of the ABC summer hit Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro to California after its first season was shot in Australia, Deadline reported.

The company has filed paperwork for a California tax credit and is currently in Phase 2 of the application process as it plans for a second season of the show. If successful, the relocation would offer a welcome lift to the Los Angeles production community, which has recently seen multiple high-profile series shift operations out of state to cut costs.

California Tax Credit Bid and the Unscripted Expansion

The move follows the passage of the California Film & Television Jobs Act, also known as California Assembly Bill 1138, which was signed into law in 2025 by Gavin Newsom. The legislation expanded the state’s tax credit system to include unscripted television shows for the first time.

While the program targets large-scale competition formats, The Next Pro fits those criteria, especially since the California Film Commission allocates 15% of the tax credit budget specifically to relocating television series. Securing the incentive is a crucial prerequisite for the production team. BBC Studios is hoping to receive the credit approval before finalizing a budget for a second season ahead of talks with ABC.

Sources indicated that the credit approval allocation date for the next funding round is slated for November 16, though results may take slightly longer to finalize. Even with a successful application, the show has not yet been officially renewed for a second season, and several other factors could ultimately influence its future.

Economic Footprint from Brisbane to Los Angeles

The first season of The Next Pro was filmed in Brisbane, primarily utilizing the Thomas Dixon Centre, which serves as the home of the Queensland Ballet. During production, the show employed approximately 110 local cast and crew members. According to data from Screen Queensland, that initial run contributed an estimated A$7.2M ($5M) to the local Australian economy.

When the series premiered in July, it drew a strong audience, debuting to 5.3M viewers after three days across ABC, Disney+, and Hulu. The numbers marked the Disney network’s strongest summer series debut since July 2020.

The potential return to the United States represents a shift for a genre that has faced significant production flight away from Southern California. Recent months have seen reality and competition staples look elsewhere to manage budgets, with The Masked Singer relocating to New Jersey, and both America’s Got Talent and its Fremantle sibling American Idol eyeing or completing moves to Georgia. In July, data from FilmLA showed that on-location production in Los Angeles was down 13% from the previous year, with reality television hitting a steeper 40% drop during the second quarter.

By comparison, its parent series, Dancing with the Stars, has maintained a continuous Los Angeles footprint across all 35 seasons since premiering in 2005. Bringing the spinoff back to California would make it only the second unscripted show to receive the newly expanded state tax credit, following Netflix’s upcoming science competition series Schooled!, which is hosted by YouTuber Mark Rober and produced by Jimmy Kimmel’s Kimmelot and Rober’s CrunchLabs.

Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro is executive produced by showrunner Conrad Green alongside Ryan O’Dowd, Krystal Whitney, Alex Cross, and Jenny Groom, with Deena Katz and Quinn Lipton serving as co-executive producers.

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