Shortly after Pharrell Williams began production on a musical biopic about his upbringing in the Atlantis apartment complex in Virginia Beach, Virginia offered the project more than $12 million in state incentives aimed at enticing producers to shoot it in the state.

However, Williams’ production team never submitted documentation for the incentives, according to state officials. The project, originally called “Atlantis,” filmed scenes in Richmond and at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront . But the project was canceled during post-production, Variety reported in February .

“The Governor’s Motion Picture Opportunity Fund is a post-performance incentive that is only paid once a production has completed work and submitted documentation,” said Virginia Film Office Director Andy Edmunds in an email about the project. “Virginia Tourism has not received documentation for ‘Atlantis’’ production. As a result, no payments have been made for ‘Atlantis.'”

To attract the project to Virginia rather than other film-friendly states like Georgia, the state offered the production team up to $9 million in grants plus an additional $3.35 million for a promotional advertising campaign featuring Williams, according to documents obtained by The Virginian-Pilot.

The incentive deal was conditional on the production shooting and spending verified money in Virginia. Producers estimated spending more than $42 million in the state in their application. The state film office initially believed it could have generated about $84 million in economic impact for the state overall.

The documentation for film grants or tax credits are reviewed by Virginia Film Office accounting staff once received, Edmunds said.

The movie, which was given the final name of “Golden,” filmed scenes in Richmond and on the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier in 2024. The film was slated to be released this month before it was scrapped during the editing process.

A spokesperson for Williams did not respond to a request for comment.

Williams released a Lego movie called “Piece by Piece,” also about his life, in October. It made just $10.7 million at the box office on a $16 million budget.

Williams’ popular Something in the Water music festival was also canceled in 2024 and 2025. He abruptly canceled plans to hold the event in October, writing in a public letter to fans that the festival wasn’t ready. The city of Virginia Beach scrapped plans for this year’s event in April after organizers failed to meet contractual obligations.