 Creative Content is Healthy and Growing

The expansion of Georgia’s creative industries, starting with film, television and music, and having by now expanded into virtual and postproduction, animation, gaming, and esports, has been a significant economic success story.

On a number of fronts, and across all creative sectors, the prospects for the industry as COVID recedes and the economy returns to normal are vibrant:

Film & Television. Although Georgia’s film industry existed before the 1970s, it was the 1972 production of the film Deliverance that brought the state national recognition as a film locale. Deliverance stars Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Burt Reynolds, and Jon Voight as Atlanta businessmen whose rafting excursion down a remote mountain river goes horribly wrong. Shot along the Chattooga River in Rabun County, the film was both a commercial and critical success.

The film’s economic success was not lost on then-governor Jimmy Carter, who went on to establish the state film commission in 1973 as a way to market Georgia as a shooting location for future projects.

The small town of Covington would later feature prominently in a long-running successful television series, In the Heat of the Night (1988-94). The television series is loosely based on the 1967 film and the 1965 novel of the same title. It starred Emmy winner Carroll O’Connor (who also served as an executive producer) as police chief Bill Gillespie and Emmy and Oscar-nominated actor Howard Rollins as police detective Virgil Tibbs and was broadcast on NBC from March 6, 1988, until May 19, 1992, then on CBS from October 28, 1992, until May 16, 1995. Covington stood in for Sparta, Mississippi and production of the show became part of everyday life for the residents of the town, with many locals hired as extras and a number of area businesses serving the production crew.

Other television series filmed in Georgia during that time include I’ll Fly Away (1991-93), an NBC series starring Sam Waterston as a southern lawyer at the dawn of the civil rights movement was shot largely in historic Madison as well as in Conyers, Covington, Monticello, Newnan and other locations. The Aaron Spelling-lensed series Savannah (1996) set in the city of Savannah, was the network’s most successful program at the time.

Along with television series, feature-film production continued in Georgia throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Sharky’s Machine (1981), My Cousin Vinny (1992) and Remember the Titans (2000) were shot throughout the state. Driving Miss Daisy (1989) was set largely in the Atlanta area. The film won several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Jessica Tandy. For the film Fried Green

Tomatoes (1991), film crews transformed a local establishment in the small town of Juliette, in Monroe County into the cafe, where it remains as a tourist attraction for fans of the film.

The city of Savannah continued as a destination for production. Forrest Gump (1994) became forever linked with Savannah because of the bench sat on by main character, Forrest, played by Tom Hanks. The Academy Award–winning film Glory (1990), based on the true story of the first all-Black volunteer company to fight in the Civil War was also shot in Savannah and other coastal areas of the state. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of the best-selling work by John Berendt, was also shot in the city. In 2008, Georgia significantly expanded tax credits available to film and television production, and the film industry in Georgia has undergone remarkable growth, generating $2.9 billion in direct spending in fiscal year 2019 and a total economic impact that may range as high as $9.5 billion (more conservative estimates of economic impact that received legislative attention in fall 2019 still assessed likely impact as in excess of $5 billion, and these figures do not tally related economic impact in the game design, music, and wider creative industries that would connect to this degree). The state produces more feature films in the top 100 box office category than any other state, including California and New York. The film output from Georgia places the state in the same category with the production of entire countries.

There were 412 film and television productions shot in Georgia in fiscal year 2022. Recent film and television productions shot in the state include AMC’s The Walking Dead, Netflix’s Ozark and Stranger Things, and HBO’s Watchmen. Feature films recently shot include Avengers: Endgame, Jumanji: The Next Level, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Dwayne Johnson’s Jungle Cruise, Coming 2 America, and Suicide Squad 2.

According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, as of June 2022, Georgia is home to 4,859 motion picture and television industry businesses, including 3,694 production-related companies.