Lionsgate moves TV show production to B.C. after North Carolina's anti-LGBTQ law

Movie studio Lionsgate has moved the filming of one of its new TV shows out of North Carolina and into British Columbia after the U.S. state passed a law that cracks down on rights forgay and particularlytransgenderpeople.

Lionsgate was set to film a new Hulu series calledCrushedin the Charlotte, N.C., areaabout a family in the wine business. Preproduction was to begin this month, with filming startingin May, but the studio informed local employees that the production would be scrapped and movedto B.C., the Charlotte Observer reported this week.

A local news outlet reported the move would cost North Carolina 100 jobs.

Lionsgate will reportedly maintain other productions in the state that are farther along in their development.A spokesman for Lionsgate did not immediately return a request for comment from CBC News for this story.

House Bill 2

The decision comes on the heels of North CarolinaGov. Pat McCrory's signingof House Bill 2 into law on March 23. The lawrequiresthat all bathrooms in the state be used only by people according to the biological sex on their birth certificates.

It's the first law in the countrythat attempts to limit bathroom optionsfortransgenderpeople, and italso excludes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from anti-discrimination protections, and blocks municipalities from adopting their own anti-discrimination and living-wage rules.

The law has attracted an avalanche of criticismand aflurry of companies eager to pull out of the state in protest. Yesterday, payment processing firm PayPalaxed plans to build a $3.6-million US facility in the state that would have created 400 new jobs.

"This decision reflects PayPal's deepest values and our strong belief that every person has the right to be treated equally, and with dignity and respect," the company said in a statement.

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, offered his state as a site for PayPal's expansion in response to the company's announcement. In a statement Tuesday, Shumlin said he had written to PayPal CEO Dan Schulman pointing out that Vermont has a "proud history of non-discrimination and protecting the rights of all citizens."

New Jersey-based Braeburn Pharmaceuticals said it was reconsidering building a $50-million USfacility in Durham County, N.C., that would have created 50 jobs paying an average of $76,000 a year.