The buzz around Atlanta created by the filming of “Anchorman 2”and periodic sightings of Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Harrison Ford, Tina Fey and the dude who played Borat at places like the Silver Skillet and Woodruff Park is evidence that the city is a Hollywood hotspot.
If that hasn’t convinced you, perhaps stumbling into Robert De Niro, while he filmed “Killing Season,” with John Travolta last year, or Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline with “Last Vegas,” or any number of vampires and zombies shows, which are currently being filmed in Atlanta, will.
As Atlanta and Georgia becomes even more attractive to filmmakers, it can get even easier for them by July 1.
After more than two years of crafting legislation, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is planning to tap even more into the multi-billion Georgia industry by opening an Office of Film and Entertainment. Pending city council approval, the office would establish a new entertainment filming ordinance and streamline the process for distributing permits and collecting fees.
Aside from managing the more than 200 film projects that come directly to Atlanta annually, the office would also deal directly with neighborhoods and communities to mitigate their concerns about nusance or inconveniences brought by productions.
Atlanta would follow other major cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, New York, New Orleans and Miami, that have already set up similar offices.
“Anything that helps to facilitate the needs for the upcoming film projects in the state, regardless of whether it is in Atlanta or not is a positive,” said local casting director Shay Griffin.
Michael Sterling, a senior advisor for Reed, said the office would be a one-stop shop for the film industry.
Currently, if a production wanted to get the rights to shot in public spaces in Atlanta, paperwork would have to be submitted to several city departments. That could include, public works to shut down a street, the police department to monitor traffic, and the fire department if pyrotechnics were involved.
“[The producers] had to figure it all out and go through all of those channels to get what they need based on what they planned to film,” Sterling said. “This changes all of that. Now you come to the film office and say this is what we want to do. You pay them the fee and they do it for you.”
Sterling said it would cost $300 to get a renewable permit to film in the city for 30 days.
Councilwoman Yolanda Adrean, who represents parts of Buckhead, where a bulk of Atlanta filming is done,is also calling for expanded legislation that would address shooting on private property.
“There needs to be an amendment that creates a liaison we can go to when filming is taking place on private property,” Adrean said. There is often noise, nighttime lighting, sometimes we have had helicopters overhead and we really didn’t have anybody to go to when we had concerns.”
Reed hasn’t appointed a director of the office yet, but Sterling said the film office would also serve as a neighborhood and community liaison. The director’s salary will range from $63,000 to $105,000 annually.
“When you have all of that production in one city, you’ve got impacted neighborhoods, residents and communities,” Sterling said.
Plans to set up a centralized film office has been on Reed agenda since at least 2011, when the original legislation drew strong opposition from the city council, who argued that the plan would kill jobs and drive business outside of Atlanta, because it added another layer of bureaucracy.
The new version of legislation is sleeker and less restrictive.
The establishment of the new office comes at a time when film is booming in Atlanta and across the state. In 2012, Georgia raked in $3.1 billion in film-related revenue, which included movies, television shows, commercials and music videos.
Of the 253 productions filmed in Georgia last year, 75 percent of them were filmed in Atlanta, including the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire; The Internship; Identity Thief; Tyler Perry’s Temptation; Last Vegas and Scary Movie 5.
Much of that can be attributed to a 2008 legislative decision to offer tax incentives to stage productions in Georgia, which has led to new studios being built in Gwinnett, Fayette, Newton and Effingham counties. Atlanta is home to several major film studios, including Tyler Perry Studios and the EUE/Screen Gems television and film production site in Lakewood.
In 2007, the year before the legislation was enacted, Georgia grossed about $245 million in film revenue.
Columnist Jennifer Brett contributed to this article.
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