Does Calif. allow 8-character license plates now?

i'm watching The Lincoln Lawyer, and his license plate says NTGUILTY. I thought the max was 7.

I watched the trailer for that show and found it to be annoying, so I passed.

Of course, it's a made-up prop for a TV show, but when one fills out the form for a California Vanity Plate, it's limited to seven spaces, BUT you can also indicate where you want a vacant 1/2 space placed within the seven.

Maybe that vacant half-space is where they put the letter "I" in the word GUILTY.