With new facilities and new content, Georgia film industry continues to grow

This year was another record-breaking one for Georgia’s film industry, according to Lee Thomas, deputy commissioner of the Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Office, a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “While the direct-spend numbers went down a bit in fiscal year 2020 due to the pandemic — from $2.9 billion in fiscal year 2019 to $2.2 billion in fiscal year 2020 — fiscal year 2021 came roaring back at $4 billion.” 

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What’s next as Georgia continues to stake a claim on the entertainment economy? This question was to be answered during the panel, “Where Do We Grow from Here?” as part of the Chronicle’s Business of Entertainment event on Dec. 9, which Thomas moderated.

Confirmed panelists include:

·      Joel Harber, CEO, Athena Studios;

·      Jay Gipson, managing director, The Gipson Company;

·      Ryan Millsap, chairman and CEO, Blackhall Americana; and

·      Dan Rosenfelt, co-founder, Electric Owl Studios.

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Byron Small

Prior to moderating the panel, Thomas said she looks forward to the development of all the new infrastructure that has been announced, “as we are scrambling to find more space” for productions in the state.

One such new piece of infrastructure is Electric Owl Studios, a LEED-certified filming environment set to break ground this month. Rosenfelt and his business partner, Michael Hahn, started discussing the idea about 2 ½ years ago, according to Rosenfelt. “We wanted to incorporate another element [into our business] that would not only be unique in the industry, but also be a catalyst for good,” he said. We thought the ‘green’ studio concept could make a global impact and hopefully encourage other production studios to implement similar sustainability measures.”

The studio, just off I-285 near Indian Creek MARTA station, is committed to 30 percent renewable energy sources and will promote green practices, according to its website. “We want to show there are attainable ways to be more eco-friendly,” said Rosenfelt, “no matter the size of the production.”

Productions will be large at Assembly’s “studio city,” being developed by The Gipson Company. Ten sound stages totaling more than 500,000 square feet are planned at the project, which Gipson and Gray Television chair and CEO Hilton Howell partnered to purchase earlier this year. Gipson told the Chronicle in April that he had learned of Howell’s interest in finding a large space to expand Gray TV’s current studio in Paulding County, called Howell and walked with him through the 120 acres of former GM plant in Doraville.

"He saw it and was like, 'Oh my god, this is amazing,'" Gipson told the Chronicle. "We both knew this could be special."

The project is also planned to include multifamily residential, corporate offices, an esports venue and a public park.

Athens will be home to its first soundstage now that Athena Studios broke ground last month. The project is a partnership between Reynolds Capital, an Athens-based commercial real estate firm, and a local developer, Tim Burgess. Joel Harber, president of Reynolds Capital, is the CEO of Athena Studios. Once completed in November 2022, the 45-acre campus will feature more than 350,000 square feet of production and educational facilities and sound stages and will partner with University of Georgia’s undergraduate film studies program and the Georgia Film Academy, according to a press release about the project.

“Athena Studios will not only provide a purpose-built film campus for productions to bring exciting new content to life, but it will also provide space to help educate and train the next generation of film professionals,” Harber said in a statement. “Hopefully over time, more components of the industry, like development and post-production, will grow in Georgia and Athens specifically, making it more than just a great location to film.”

While Georgia is a great location to film, the industry is growing here from a content perspective. Last April, Ryan Millsap owned a production facility, Blackhall Studios, which he sold to Commonwealth Group, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm. This fall, Millsap announced his move to the content-creation side of the entertainment industry with the launch of Blackhall Americana, a streaming service that will produce original content.

In a news release reported by the Chronicle, Millsap, CEO of the venture, said, “There is a hunger in the marketplace for original programming focused purely on the fantasy escapism of quintessentially American programming.”

Hoping to raise $300 million to initially fund the project, he said in the release that he is "already in talks with major creative talent, will recruit big-name Hollywood writers, directors and actors,” and plans to use the initial investment to build the business within seven years to rival Netflix.

During the Business of Entertainment event, the panelists were expected to share the latest updates on their projects and how they illustrate the expansion of the entertainment industry in the state.