The Film Studios of Georgia

Since the initial Georgia film industry boom, back in 2009, we have seen a steady increase of GA film activity…leading to our beautiful state being dubbed the “Hollywood of the South”. And there is no slowing down in sight. Back in August, GA Governor, Brian Kemp, announced that the state had broken yet another record by topping $4.4 billion (yes, with a B) revenue during the 2022 fiscal year. In that time, Georgia hosted 412 productions; represented by 32 feature films, 36 independent films, 269 episodic productions, 42 commercials, and 33 music videos.

Governor Kemp had this to say, “When the pandemic struck, we worked hard in Georgia to communicate with our partners in the Georgia film, TV, and streaming industries. Together, we forged a safe and appropriate path to allow the film industry to return to operations and deliver Georgia Made productions to eager consumers all around the world – even when some states continued to stay shut down and stifle the industry’s return to normalcy.”

The article, from GPB News, goes on to state: Movies filmed in Georgia claimed four of the top six spots for highest domestic-grossing movies: Avengers: Endgame (No. 2), Spider-Man: No Way Home (3), Black Panther (5), and Avengers: Infinity War (6). Streaming episodic and limited-series programming continued to choose Georgia for hit programming, including Season Four of Netflix’s Stranger Things, Netflix hit Ozark, HBO Max’s The Staircase, Disney+’s “Loki” and FX’s “Atlanta.”

But that is not all. Just this year, Georgia made waves when the nation’s first Latino-owned studio was opened in southwest Atlanta. Ozzie Areu, a Burbank native and the son of Cuban immigrants, chose Georgia to launch this groundbreaking project, Areu Bros Studios. The 150,000 square foot lot is attached to the well known Tyler Perry Studios. That is because Ozzie used to work for Perry and considers him a mentor in the industry. Areu, as well as Perry, continues to create opportunities for minorities in the film industry to tell their stories; providing top of the line locations and technology to do so with excellence. 

And if that is not exciting enough, we are excited to share that major names (such as Ron Howard and Brian Grazer) are collaborating to launch a groundbreaking social app that will change the face of production hiring, and they started it right here in Atlanta.

According to GPB.com, “Impact has launched their service in Atlanta, which has made waves in the past decade as a popular city for filming television series and movies — including popular Marvel Studios titles and shows like Netflix’s Stranger Things. Mitchell said the team behind Impact saw technology and modern social networking as an important tool for the future of jobs in film — and possibly a disruptor for the current status quo.

“We started, in fact, because we wanted to create technology that could help solve challenges in the entertainment industry and empower the people who bring stories to life,” he said. “And while there’s been tremendous innovations in filmmaking and television with things like digital effects and streaming, the actual mounting and producing of a show hasn’t changed much in the 20 years that I’ve been in the in the business.”

The change that Impact hopes to bring to film is a better medium for workers — set builders, production assistants, camera operators — to connect with productions looking to hire them. Mitchell said Impact seeks to be the one to bridge the gap. Mitchell said the network currently has 21,000 users, with roughly 4,000 in Atlanta. He said Impact’s hope is to use technology to unite the film industry.”