Atlanta City Council committee to consider setting up film office

By Jeremiah McWilliams

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta could get a new department to help streamline the process of getting permits to film movies in the city.

A committee of the Atlanta City Council is set to consider an ordinance Wednesday that would create an "Office of Film, Television, Music and Digital Media Development" in the office of Mayor Kasim Reed.

The legislation would also establish a new entertainment filming ordinance and a process for distributing permits and collecting fees, according to a meeting agenda released Friday. A board would be created to advise the mayor on the entertainment industry.

The legislation is meant to meet the needs of the burgeoning film and entertainment industry, while protecting Atlanta's interests, City Council staffers wrote in comments enclosed in the agenda for Wednesday's meeting. The legislation is still being crafted and is subject to change.

Reed, a former entertainment lawyer, has been a strong booster of Atlanta's film industry. At a news conference this week, he said he would like to see Atlanta's filmmaking prowess extended into the large television commercial field.

Film production is "an industry in which we excel," Reed said. "We have the resources and the infrastructure in place."

Reed said he envisioned a model in which preliminary work on commercials is done in New York, and production is then done in Atlanta. He called those projects a "good fit" for the city.

Atlanta is already home to several film hubs, including Tyler Perry Studios and the EUE/Screen Gems television and film production site in Lakewood.

"Atlanta is not the same city we were five years ago," said Kathleen Bertrand, executive producer of the BronzeLens Film Festival. "The overall [goal] is about branding Atlanta as this great place."