The Savannah-based movie studio entangled in the death of a camera assistant in a gruesome train accident was once such a rising star that President Barack Obama paid a visit in 2010.
Today Meddin Studios — and its charismatic founder Nick Gant — are struggling to stay afloat.
Records examined by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution show that in the summer of 2013 Meddin Studios declared bankruptcy, which means taxpayers could be on the hook for some of the more than $3 million in Small Business Administration-backed loans it used to get off the ground.
Gant was listed as an executive producer in the ill-fated “Midnight Rider” film.
But in an interview with the AJC he downplayed his involvement and said he had no role in the day-to-day production decisions, which he said were made by the film’s production company, Unclaimed Freight, and its director, Randall Miller.
“They rented space and equipment from us. That was it,” Gant said. The executive producer credit, he said, was negotiated as part of the deal with Unclaimed Freight and Miller. In return, Gant said, he offered discounts on the equipment.
Gant has collaborated with Miller at least twice before; Miller used Meddin Studios on his two previous films “Savannah” and “CBGB.” Through a spokesman, Miller declined to comment.
In 2010, on a trip to the Georgia coast, Obama paid a visit to Meddin’s fledgling studios to tout its use of small business loans. The company seemed on the cutting edge of a film renaissance in Savannah, and the vibrant film scene at the Savannah College of Art and Design. “Forest Gump” and “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” were among the movies that had already used the city’s graceful antebellum architecture as a backdrop.
A contract dispute with the California filmmakers Radioactive Giant led to Meddin’s bankruptcy filing. Each argues the other owes them money. A failed real estate deal added to Meddin’s money troubles.
But Meddin also had financial problems before it filed for bankruptcy. Records show Meddin had a pair of liens filed against them in 2010 by companies in Chatham County for unpaid bills.
Judy Cox, owner of Rick’s Glass Co. in Savannah, obtained a $27,400 lien against Meddin after she says the movie studio refused to pay them for work. She eventually settled the case for less than that to avoid having to pay legal costs.
“As far as I’m concerned I don’t want to do business with him ever again,” Cox said of Gant.
“We had to write the rest off as a bad debt,” she said. “We’re a small business so when someone doesn’t pay us it puts us in a cash flow crisis.”
Gant said the debt was paid in full.
Gant said he’s optimistic Meddin will survive and said it will say a lot about Savannah’s future as a moviemaking locale if it doesn’t.
“If we fail who will want to take a chance here?” he said.
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