Georgia Entertainment Scene

What’s filming in Georgia in November 2020?

Production numbers have hit a post-pandemic high of 42
Major celebrities were in town, including 'Iyanla: Fix My Life' star Iyanla Vanzant, for the opening of Tyler Perry Studios Saturday, Oct 5, 2019, in Atlanta. Perry acquired the property of Fort McPherson to build a movie studio on 330 acres of land. (Ryon Horne / Ryon.Horne@ajc.com)
Major celebrities were in town, including 'Iyanla: Fix My Life' star Iyanla Vanzant, for the opening of Tyler Perry Studios Saturday, Oct 5, 2019, in Atlanta. Perry acquired the property of Fort McPherson to build a movie studio on 330 acres of land. (Ryon Horne / Ryon.Horne@ajc.com)
Nov 10, 2020

The floodgates opened in November for new film and TV productions in Georgia, hitting a post-pandemic high of 42 as of Nov. 10.

This is up from 27 just two weeks earlier and almost exactly the same as the number of productions on Nov. 11, 2019, when it was 36. On March 11, just before the virus shut everything down, the number was 39.

“It definitely seems busy,” said Sara Riney, an Atlanta set decoration buyer. “Most people I know have gone back to work. Prop houses will tell you it’s busy."

Lee Thomas, deputy commissioner of the Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Office, said in a statement that “we’re not quite at pre-pandemic levels yet, but our sound stages are filling up fast and productions from feature films to regular series are underway. Last fiscal year prior to COVID-19, we were on track for another record pace, and we’re working every day with our productions to help meet their needs.”

Many are returning shows such as the CW’s “Stargirl” and “Dynasty,” FXX’s “Archer,” the syndicated “Divorce Court” and OWN’s “Iyanla: Fix My Life.” Tyler Perry is also readying three of his shows to shoot consecutively.

Over the past two weeks, 17 programs or films have been added to the Georgia film office active list while seven have wrapped. (The film office posts active productions in snapshot fashion but does not offer historical data, so that’s what I’ve been doing about once a month since May 2019. You can see the historical monthly figures at the bottom of this blog entry.)

No big-budget new movies have launched since late October.

The official film office list below only has 37 programs listed. I know of five more not on the list. Thomas will keep shows off the list if a production company, network or streaming service requests it. Plus, production companies are not required to contact the film office. It’s a common courtesy and allows crews and others know what else is happening.

The other five are::

- Netflix’s “Ozark,” season 4

- CBS’s “MacGyver," season 5

- Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” season 4

- Netflix’s “Raising Dion,” season 2

- BYUTV’s “Dwight in Shining Armor" is still shooting until the end of the week and has been on the list in the past. I’m not sure why that particular show isn’t anymore.

Including the known omissions, the list includes six movies targeting movie theaters in production, 14 reality shows,19 TV series, two documentaries and a TV movie.

Other shows that have started up since October:

Shows and films that wrapped since October:

The number of active Georgia films and TV shows over time since June 2019:

About the Author

Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.

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