Film, TV and commercial post-production in Georgia is getting a boost thanks to an adaptive reuse project.
New York-based Uppercut is planning to lease 10K SF at the first phase of The Works, the $200M redevelopment of an 80-acre industrial project along Chattahoochee Avenue by Selig Enterprises, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports.
Uppercut has clients such as Toyota, Nike and Johnson & Johnson, and plans to open its Atlanta office in 2020, the paper reports. Post-production is the work on a film or show done after principal photography has ended.
It has been viewed as lacking in Georgia, despite the state's lucrative film and television production tax credit. Recently, Atlanta film producers Len Gibson and Wayne Overstreet, through their Go Media outfit, have pledged $150M toward establishing more post-production facilities in the state. It was unknown if Uppercut was a beneficiary of this incentive.
"Until we're able to secure post-production, we will always be susceptible to Hollywood deciding they could leave," Overstreet previously told the ABC. "The work is done where the directors live, so if we can fund opportunities for projects of local filmmakers we can do production and post-production in Georgia, and then we have a sustainable, replenishable model."
Despite the meteoric rise in productions in the state — now tallying more than 300 TV shows and films this year — there has been a cloud hanging over the industry due to the state's Heartbeat Bill, passed early this year by state legislators and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp. That bill prohibits abortions of a fetus once a heartbeat is detected, usually around the six-week mark.
The passage of the bill, originally slated to take effect in January, caused an uproar among many in Hollywood. Major studios threatened to pull production from the state in response, with one prominent Atlanta studio owner claiming productions were already avoiding Georgia. But earlier this week, a federal judge ruled the law unconstitutional, blocking the law's enactment in January as opponents fight the measure in court.
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