12 minute read
Lights, Camera, Coweta: A Tale of Two Cities Paved in Red Carpet
Lights, Camera, Coweta
A Tale of Two Cities Paved in Red Carpet
By Melissa Dickson Jackson
CONJURING POSITIVE ECONOMIC OUTCOMES
It’s late Friday afternoon at Maguire’s Pub in Senoia, GA. The bar is empty except for a young couple at the far end eating an early dinner. She’s in a Nic and Norman’s uniform, clearly about to start her shift. It’s a dead time between lunch and dinner, time to prep, and take a breath before the Friday night rush. But this Friday the rush starts early, when Gabriela Aguilar happens in, reviews a menu, and efficiently orders 60 bangers with veggies; several dozen side salads; pub pretzels; signature Rueben-style spring rolls made with corned beef, swiss cheese and sauerkraut; and a mess of fried cod. She’s feeding 150 cast and crew members at The Conjuring 3 set about half a mile away, and she’s delighted that tonight’s appetizers only cost her $500. The day before she spent $1,000 on sushi at Publix. The order is ready by 4:30 and Aguilar returns with an aide to load it into a truck for the short trip back to the set.
Nic & Norman's | Senoia, GA
Phot Credit: Keith Brazie | Pork Pie Pictures
Aguilar’s business, The Southern Spoon, is the contracted “Key Crafty” for The Conjuring 3 in which Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson play real-life paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren perhaps best known for their Amityville investigation. Aguilar sets up the food tables and keeps the cast and crew’s tongues and stomachs happy. She has a food service truck, but she often relies on local restaurants and groceries to provide the day-to-day goodies. When she started her business, she often outsourced labor. Today she has ten full-time employees and spends thousands every week at businesses across Georgia, often in Coweta County. “I’ve already spent $3,000 today,” says Aguilar.
Bartender Madison Majors serving up a Nic & Norman’s special, "strawberry fields”- New Amsterdam vodka, house citrus, simple syrup, and fresh strawberries.
Photo Credit: Keith Brazie | Pork Pie Pictures
Aguilar and businesses like hers are part of what Senoia businessman and former president of Riverwood Studios, Inc. (now tentatively AMC Raleigh Studios) Scott Tigchelaar calls “the ripple effect.” The numbers are hard to pin down, but anecdotally, it seems that Aguilar is right about the money circulated as a result of support industries. “There’s clean-up, trash collection, dry cleaning, fuel purchases,” points out Aguilar. All of it contributes to the local economy even if you can’t see it on a city or county spreadsheet.
Later that night at Nic and Norman’s, Keira from Columbus, Ohio, peruses the menu. Will it be a burger with bison chili or the Lobster and Shrimp Mac and Cheese? If she’s feeling adventurous, she might end her evening with a Norman’s Blind Squirrel: Cask & Crew Walnut Toffee Whiskey with Frangelico and a splash of cola. Several items on the menu seem to feature Coca- Cola in a shout out to the region’s most famous export.
On the booth next to her sits a bag from The Walking Dead store around the corner. Keira from Ohio unloads her purchases to admire them — mostly gifts and a few souvenirs. She bought a pair of zombie socks, several magnets, and a Daryl Dixon T-shirt for her mom, also a Walking Dead fan who loves Daryl most of all. Keira’s already spent $70 before dinner, and she’ll be in the area a week before she drives 600 miles (9 hours) back home.
“It’s really neat when you’re an avid fan of something, and you can see the location,” she says. “I was excited to find out there was a restaurant here. I love that Norman Reedus chose to give back to the community in this way.” That gift, the decision to open Nic and Norman’s with Walking Dead producer Greg Nicotero, resulted in jobs for 35 Coweta and Fayette County citizens.
“The Conjuring 3,” staring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, is slated to open in theaters in the fall of 2020.
THE CITY OF HOMES... AND PERSONALITY
Photo Credit: Keith Brazie | Pork Pie Pictures
It can’t hurt that celebrities like Jack Black and Cate Blanchet have recently walked the streets of downtown Newnan. Or that legendary trickster Bill Murray directed traffic at Atkinson Elementary during the filming of Get Low. Local REALTOR Joy Barnes says the impact on her industry is clear:
Though there’s no direct financial link, it’s also made room for lifestyle incentives like the free weekend trolley between downtown Newnan and Ashley Park and the LINC walking and biking trails — clear lifestyle enhancements to a formerly sleepy community.
Newnan’s personality wasn’t lost on special effects supervisor Bob Trevino when he worked in the community on Fox’s show The Gifted that filmed in and around Newnan in 2017 and 2018. While he was in the area, Trevino spent over $2,000 buying a vintage camera and audio equipment including a mahogany Victrola for his collection. That’s in addition to the money he spent on everyday amenities like food and gas. “I know that I have, personally, spent hundreds of dollars at various stores and shops [in Newnan],” says Trevino. “I spent money at the local hobby store downtown, antique shops, the grocery store for desserts and various food items, and restaurants for dinners when working there. It was easy to find what I needed, for work and social occasions alike.”
Trevino says he hopes to return with his family one fall. “One of my favorite outings was for the Newnan city-wide Halloween event,” he observes. “That was a unique treat that I have yet to find in my travels around this country. I have recommended visiting the city to all of my friends and co-workers while in the ATL area.”
Fox’s show “The Gifted” was filmed in and around Newnan in 2017 and 2018
TRICKLE-DOWN FILM- ONOMICS
Compared to support spending like Gabriella Aguilar’s and discretionary spending like Bob Trevino’s, revenue generated from facilities and location rentals seems meager. That’s all part of the broader effort to keep the industry in the state. Another state could easily replicate the tax incentives, but Georgia works hard to create an infrastructure that provides convenience, local expertise, and sustainability as well as financial incentives. Several years ago the state required each county to identify a “Camera Ready Liaison” and provide regional information to the State-run “Camera Ready” web site at CameraReady.Georgia. org. Tray Baggarly serves as the Coweta county liaison. When production companies need to rent the Courthouse or close a county road, they turn first to Baggarly. If he can’t help them, he knows who can. Baggarly’s official position is Director of Event Services, but he admits he spends more and more of his workday facilitating the film industry. He works directly with location scouts and production teams to find the ideal shooting locations for features and TV shows.
Baggarly says the favorite rental location in his experience is the historic 1904 Courthouse in Newnan’s downtown square. After a little debacle with damage and problematic behavior from the crew of Drop Dead Diva, the county raised the rental rate to $1,500 a day for a courtroom and increased the deposit fee to $5,000. In addition to the Courthouse, popular sites include the vacant hospital on Hospital Road, the Caldwell Tanks site, and historic rural homes. Baggarly also helps to facilitate road closures and to find private property owners for location scouts.
Coweta County Courthouse | Newnan, GA
Photo Credit: Keith Brazie | Pork Pie Pictures
All negotiations beyond the initial contact are handled independently with the owners of businesses and homes. The city and county don’t keep records of those individual payouts, so there’s no way of knowing exactly how much money enters the local economy as a result of those private transactions. “If there were a magic way to pinpoint the economic impact,” says Baggarly, “that would be great, but it’s just so hard to do.”
Cleatus Phillips, Newnan City Manager, agrees: “I get asked that question all the time, and there’s just no way to know.” Phillips says the recently adopted fee schedule has increased profit from several rentals and services. As a result, the City of Newnan received $7,000 during the filming of The Conjuring 3, and $11,000 during the filming of the HBO civil-rights era series Lovecraft Country. Those proceeds go into the Newnan general fund and help pay for salaries, operation, benefits, and maintenance. Phillips says there’s discussion about earmarking those funds to support specific projects that pose a direct benefit to the community at large, perhaps an alleyway clean-up, a park, or historic beautification.
Anecdotally, small, locally-owned businesses in Coweta have received between $500 and $7,000 for their inconvenience (at the low end) or location fees (at the high end). Seth Zimmerman, a freelance location scout, confirms that productions sometimes pay up to $5,000 a day for the use of a private home or mansion for filming. Depending on how long a production uses the facility, the location fees can get pleasantly lucrative for businesses and homeowners. Most recipients are reluctant to disclose the compensation, but one homeowner confided that he took a portion of the proceeds generated from the use of his home and reinvested it in renovations and improvements to his property. He hired local plumbers, painters, landscapers, electricians, carpenters, and heating and air services with an expenditure of $25,000. All that money went into the hands of local craftsmen with local expenses, continuing the cycle of prosperity.
City Manager Phillips observes that the deep-pocket projects sometimes make negotiations difficult for smaller-budget productions. Navigating the film industry minefields has become “the hardest part of what we do,” says Phillips. “For every nine people that are happy, there’s one who’s unhappy.” Those unhappy voices are often the loudest and most likely to be covered in local media.
Small business owner Phyllis Graham of Let Them Eat Toffee, the tiny but delightful custom chocolate and toffee shop in downtown Newnan, says that the industry “inconvenience fees” have been a blessing to her business, “especially during slow seasons.” In addition to receiving a modest inconvenience fee, Graham says that “the recent production opened a King of Pops tab at my store, and I appreciated that...It doesn’t hurt that the crew is contractually entitled to eat every six hours.” Indeed, industry regulations require that cast and crew be provided opportunities to eat every six hours.
Those frequent feedings helped downtown Newnan Thai restaurant Garlic on a recent weekend when they were contracted to feed the cast and crew of The Conjuring 3. Recent late-night feedings also benefited The Alamo/Fabiano’s when they provided midnight pizzas in an otherwise darkened downtown.
As one of the larger spaces in downtown Newnan, The Alamo, a former theater turned Bar and restaurant, is a favorite location for the film industry. As a result, its owner Amy Murphy has learned how to manage the contract negotiations. She has a secret asset, her sister-in-law and business partner, Elisa Sanders. Sanders, who co-owns Meat & Greet, another downtown eatery, is also a Commercial Production Manager in the Nashville area. Sander’s experience has helped Murphy navigate the ins and outs based on industry standards that aren’t obvious to novice location providers. When Murphy contracts with a production, she includes fees for an on-site representative (site-rep) who knows the facility and operates as a hands-on, eyes-on partner with the production team. This means Murphy doesn’t get calls on a day off about air conditioning and hard-to-find light switches. It also means that an employee gets paid by the production, usually at a desirable hourly rate. Murphy spreads that bonus income among her staff by running the site-reps on shifts during production windows.
The Alamo | Newnan, GA
Photo Credit: Keith Brazie | Pork Pie Pictures
“I think most business owners try to find a round number and close the deal,” suggests Murphy. “It’s better to break it out.” Following her sister-in-law’s advice, Murphy negotiates contracts that include fees for site reps, daily facilities use for filming (business shuttered), and prep and strike days during which the business is open but may be inconvenient to access. She also takes advantage of the “second meal” opportunity, a late-night feeding that she negotiates into her contract. “Where else are they gonna get food at 1 a.m.?” she asks. “They always go over,” Murphy observes. “So we always negotiate hourly and daily fees. Not flat rates.”
In Murphy’s estimation, the film industry has plunged “millions and millions” into the local economy over the last several years.
All the local negotiations are private, but Sanders says there’s no reason for the county-wide influx of funds to remain mysterious. The Nashville permit application to which she is accustomed requires applicants to list “Estimated dollars left in Nashville” based on the production’s location fee budget and discretionary spending. It also requires applicants to register the “Number of Nashville Crew” and “Nashville Talent.” By adding those two or three simple line items to Coweta Permit Applications, the county could easily calculate an approximate annual income for the community without unduly burdening the production companies. According to Sanders, these are industry standards that won’t offend companies or drive away business.
Seth Zimmerman calls this spending “The Trickle-Down Effect.” It’s not always as tangible as the numbers on a contract. Zimmerman recalls a production several years ago that decided to show its appreciation for the Sharpsburg community by purchasing dozens of $100 Kroger gift cards. When Zimmerman distributed the cards by knocking door to door, he encountered a father who wept upon receiving the gift. He and his wife had just been discussing how they would buy groceries during an especially challenging week. The incident has remained with Zimmerman as a vivid example of the invisible economic impact the film industry has had on Coweta. “People don’t know,” says Zimmerman. “I remember when there was a scare that the state might withdraw the tax incentives. Some friends of mine made up cards explaining that they were here as a result of the film industry, and they handed them out every time they spent money.” A similar strategy might help Cowetans understand those sources of revenue. Like Murphy and Aguilar, Zimmerman estimates that the industry has spent millions and millions in the region.
District 3 council member George Alexander has seen the impact from inside and out. As a council member, he helped to develop the policies that attract the industry, and as the owner of an 1880s Victorian home, he has directly participated in the emerging economy of the Coweta film industry. He also lives across from one of Coweta’s most desired film locations, The Parrot-Camp-Soucy House on Greenville Street, featured in The Odd Life of Timothy Green, The House with the Clock in Its Walls, and HBO’s upcoming series Lovecraft Country. Alexander’s home appears in House with a Clock in Its Walls as the quirky purple interior of Cate Blanchett’s cottage, and Lovecraft Country contracted his adjacent rental property as a holding facility for extras.
Newnan district 3 council member George Alexander
Photo Credit: Keith Brazie | Pork Pie Pictures
Alexander, a retired Delta pilot, remembers when he moved to Newnan thirty years ago: “It wasn’t much. My mother thought I was crazy. And now, look at it. People can’t see the impact if they aren’t directly involved. It’s not just about the physical beauty of the community but the way that Newnan people are. They’re so kind and generous. That’s what I always hear from the crew. They say everybody here is so nice.” Alexander disappears to retrieve a thank you note he’s just received from the production manager of Lovecraft Country. His enthusiasm is palpable. “This is positive,” he beams. “They painted the house,” he adds. “Primer and two coats of paint. And they bought the paint at Sherwin Williams downtown.”
These brick and mortar purchases are the reason Senoia, Newnan, and Coweta have emerged as some of Georgia’s most prosperous and appealing communities.
They consistently rank in the top ten statewide. Investing in the film industry through support, innovation, and hospitality seems like a clear pathway to prosperity for Coweta’s citizens.
HOORAY FOR Y’ALLYWOOD
When Idgie Threadgoode, portrayed by Mary Stuart Masterson in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), eased her hand through a horde of bees to retrieve a glistening comb of honey, cities like Newnan and Senoia were at a crossroads. Long-established businesses were shuttered, and families feared developers would destroy the historic character of the communities they loved. “That is exactly how it was,” says Tray Baggarly, a Senoia native. “A bunch of empty boarded up businesses.
Only Hollberg’s Fine Furniture, Hutchinson’s Hardware, City Hall, the Post Office, and a drug store existed.” By 2007, only Dollar General seemed interested in an available property in the heart of Senoia. At that pivotal moment, Scott Tigchelaar and Senoia Enterprises committed to the community: sell us your property, and we will retain the historical character you cherish.
Today, the lot that might have become a Dollar General is the site of The Gin Property, where all the newly constructed homes look plucked from a vintage past. One section features townhomes that replicate the brownstone streets of Brooklyn or Philadelphia, creating a ready set for future projects. AMC still uses the area as a living backlot for The Walking Dead Alexandria safe zone. The median home price is $650,000. That’s quite a jar of honey, and probably not the type you can find at the dollar store.
