Continued from page 26
A crew finishes up saran-wrapping an entire house for a shoot.
of a thriving industry. After 14 years as a talent agent in Atlanta, Jennifer Kelley founded Big Picture Casting along with her partner Rita Harrell in 2011. “We’re doing a little bit of everything – features, commercials, industrials, you name it,” says Kelley. Big Picture Casting is also responding to the industry’s desire for the best talent, teaching valuable workshops that include showing local talent how to perform well in
auditions and even how to drink properly on camera, a skill that’s actually much harder than it might seem. “The quality of talent is rising and the actors here are getting bigger opportunities and training in order to be better. We love the work that’s coming in (to Atlanta), and all we can do is try to prepare everybody, so that our clients are pleasantly surprised instead of disappointed. Most of the leads are still coming out of the major markets, though.
It’s a process,” says Kelley. Production businesses investing in Georgia serve not only the growing film and entertainment industry but also help out established local production companies as well. Panavision Cameras, which closed their Georgia facility in 1998 due to a lack of business, has returned, and EUE/Screen Gems has constructed five sound stages with over 150,000 square feet of production space in Southwest Atlanta on the former Lakewood Fairgrounds site. EUE/Screen Gems employs 250 people on their lot with plans to add more employees as needed. “Production equipment is more readily available now, and the latest and greatest that used to only be available in LA and New York is now here,” says Linda Burns. Sheryl Myers, a long-time Atlanta production veteran and currently the Executive Producer at Stateline Films says, “Competition is a good thing for me as a producer because if I’ve got vendors competing, I’m going to get better rates on things I need.” But most importantly, all of the entertainment industry’s growth gives Georgia’s film community something it has lacked in the past, real legitimacy. “As a production company based in Atlanta, we now have more credibility. We’re now located in a production center; we’re not just an outpost.” Says Myers, “The whole level of the game was raised when this (the
Long-time Atlanta production veteran, Sheryl Myers. tax incentive) happened.” There’s also a strong sense of hometown pride, as Atlantans have seen movies like The Blindside and TV shows like The Walking Dead, both shot in town, find success. Rather than the jaded population of other production hot spots, Georgians are still excited to see a film crew. But, it’s not just a great tax incentive and world-class production support that’s turned Atlanta into a production powerhouse; Atlanta’s film industry has something that’s only on offer in the South. As Sheryl Myers puts it, “There’s a nice, hospitable way that people work in the industry here in Atlanta. It’s a Southern thing maybe, but it’s just the way we set things up, and the industry responds to that when they get down here.” Sandy Tyler is a free-lance media producer living Intown.
Top and bottom, EUE Screen Gems Lot.
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June 2012
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