CHARLESTON, S.C. - A new teen television drama, "Palmetto Pointe," will film in South Carolina beginning next month, the producers said.

The drama follows six high school graduates heading off to college and was originally set to be filmed in North Carolina. But a new South Carolina law providing film incentives helped bring the production to the Lowcountry.

Sky Entertainment Group filmed the pilot in Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, N.C., and the show has been picked up for 17 episodes and will start airing in August.

The producers said the drama will deal with issues such as drinking, date rape and teen pregnancy. They would not say on which network it will appear.

The cast will include Shawna Waldron, who played actor Michael Douglas' daughter in the 1995 movie "The American President," as well as Nina Repeta, who played actress Katie Holmes' sister in "Dawson's Creek."

The announcement was made Monday at Summerville-based ITS International Talent Studios, owned by husband and wife, Tim Walsh and Mindy McEntire.

Some scenes will be filmed at the studio while others will be filmed on location, including Joe Riley Stadium, home of the Charleston RiverDogs baseball team. One of the main characters is a minor-league baseball player who is injured and returns to his hometown, Palmetto Pointe.

Under the state's film incentive law, major productions are exempt from local and state sales and use taxes.

They also receive a 15 percent rebate on spending in the state with a cap of about $7.7 million, and a 15 percent rebate on taxable wages, with a cap at $10 million.

Sky Entertainment hasn't applied for any of the incentives yet so what deal they would get is unclear, said Jeff Monks, the director of the South Carolina Film Commission.