States compete with each other to attract film studios with subsidies that make the cost of filming cheaper. While politicians sell these subsidies as good for economic development, they often cost taxpayers quite a bit of money.
This is one of the reasons that many shows and movies which take place in Washington, D.C., like House of Cards, are actually filmed in Baltimore, Maryland.
And it’s not just the United States that does this—other countries do, too. Disney has filmed several recent movies, including the latest Star Wars film, in the United Kingdom in order to take advantage of its generous film subsidies.