Georgia sound stages' most recent sign of the state's developing film enterprise: a vast 30-acre studio area which has launched in the former Lakewood Fairgrounds site in close proximity to downtown Atlanta. The fairgrounds, managed by the city of Atlanta and until not too long ago used as a place for a flea market, are a local landmark and presently a popular shooting location, home for such motion pictures like Burt Reynolds' 1977 trucker film "Smokey and the Bandit."
EUE/Screen Gems, a New York City business that also operates studios in Manhattan and Wilmington, N.C., said that it will invest $6 million in order to convert the fairgrounds and its Spanish colonial-style exhibition halls into Georgia's biggest studio. Though it was formerly managed by Columbia Pictures, the company isn't related to the Screen Gems production label now owned by Sony Pictures. The firm plans to build a 37,500-square-foot soundstage, as well as renovate four other buildings on the property that date to the turn of the last century. When the project is done in March 2011, the complex will cover over 100,000 square feet of sound stages and office space, as well as a set of construction shop and lighting and grip facilities.
Movie producers, directors and studios asked the company to start a center in Atlanta, given its central location as well as the appeal of the state's film tax credit, among the highest in the country. Among the ventures anticipated to film at the Lakewood facility will be an adaptation of the Broadway play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf" from Atlanta-based filmmaker Tyler Perry. Under the program, producers can get a credit equal to 30% of their in-state production costs, that they could apply toward any tax liability they have with the state of Georgia. At the same time, movie makers could sell the credit to a third party as well as keep the cash, therefore reducing production expenses. The credit is broad, applying not only to movies as well as television programs but also commercials, music videos, video game development as well as animation.
Georgia sound stages have an upswing ever since the credit was raised to 30% from 20% in 2008, production has influxed into the state of Georgia. Movie as well as television production expenditure tripled to $770 million in 2009, as per the Georgia Film Office. In the last two years, 26 motion pictures have been filmed in the state. During the last two years they've had a really, really excellent run according to the Georgia Film Office.
Georgia sound stages not just offer a great tax incentive, but its capital, Atlanta, is apparently the brand new hotspot outside of California. EUE/ Screen Gems just lately bought a 33- acre film and tv production campus, situated ideally 5 miles from downtown Atlanta and 6 miles from the country's busiest airport terminal. Actually, it appears that Atlanta and EUE/ Screen Gems in particular have provided both the film and TV industries with a distinctive and low-cost opportunity with high quality production. EUE/ Screen Gems also do business in Wilmington, North Carolina, one more tax incentive state that has seen an increase in productions over the past couple of years. EUE/ Screen Gems own and manage a 50-acre complex with more than 150,000 sq. ft., 2 special effect water tanks.
euescreengems.com/studios-support/atlanta/ are actually soundproof, hangar-like structures used for film and TV productions. Aside from that, click here make it a lot easier for the production staff to create as well as build the sets to be utilized.