At
press time the California State Legislature was on the verge of
extending their film and television tax credit for two years. Earlier
this year MTV moved the production of its show Teen Wolf from Georgia to
California thanks to that state’s tax incentive lottery. However, folks
in the film biz here don’t seem overly concerned if the credit gets the
extension. As Lee Thomas, Director of Georgia's Film,
Music and Digital Entertainment division explains, "our offerings are
very competitive. In all of these years, Teen Wolf is the first
one we have lost because of their TV/film tax credits." The Los Angeles
Times reports that just two of 23 new one-hour TV dramas will be shot
in L.A. County, “as cost-conscious producers seek tax-friendly
production havens in New York, North Carolina, Georgia and other states…
Fewer than 10% of new network dramas this season are based in Los
Angeles, down from 50% in 2010 and nearly 80% in 2005.” That is a
significant loss considering that the Los Angeles Economic Development
Corp. claims that, ”One 22-episode-a-year network series has a budget of
$60 million and generates 840 direct and indirect jobs.”A bit of irony in the east coast/west coast tax incentive battle – former Golden State TV ad pitchman and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will shoot his next film, Breacher, in the metro-Atlanta area from October through December. The film, about members of DEA task force team of who are being killed off one-by-one after robbing a drug cartel safe house, is in preproduction in the area now. Also in the cast are Malin Akerman (who was here last year during the filming of Wanderlust), Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard and Dawn Olivieri. Joe Manganiello (who was recently in Atlanta filming What To Expect When You Are Expecting) and Max Martini (Revenge, Saving Private Ryan) are rumored to be negotiating for parts in the flick. David Ayer (End of Watch, Street Kings) directs. The script was written by Skip Woods (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, A Good Day to Die Hard).
Another big name cast project coming to Georgia in October is Last Vegas starring Robert DeNiro (in Georgia earlier this year while shooting Killing Season), Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline and Mary Steenburgen. Jack Nicholson is rumored to be joining the flick about four best friends in their late sixties who throw a Las Vegas bachelor party for the only one of them who has remained single. John Turtletaub (National Treasure, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) directs. The script was co-written by Adam Brooks (Definitely, Maybe and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason) and Dan Fogelman (Cars 2 and Crazy, Stupid Love).
It is no longer a rumor – Lindsay Lohan is on board for Scary Movie 5 that films in Georgia September 3rd through October 26th. Also joining the crazy train is Charlie Sheen, who appeared in the fourth film in the series.
The independent flick Grantham and Rose is slated to begin shooting sometime in September in Georgia. Jake T. Austin (Rio, TV’s Wizards of Waverly Place) stars as Grantham Portnoy, a 17 year-old trying to make his way in New York when a petty crime thrusts him into the company of Rose (Marla Gibbs) an 81-year-old African-American woman.
Desires of the Heart was set to wrap shooting in Savannah and Tybee Island at the end of August or early September before moving production to India. TV soapster Alicia Minshew (All My Children) stars as a Savannah artist who falls for psychiatrist Kris Sharma (Val Lauren). But just as their relation blooms, Sharma is called home to India to marry a women selected by his parents.
Season one of the Science Channel’s Stuff You Should Know began shooting in Atlanta in late August and will continue through November 2nd. The series is based on the popular “Stuff You Should Know” podcast hosted by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant. Plans are to shoot ten 30-minute episodes to run early in 2013. Production is being overseen by Atlantan Conal Byrne, the Vice President of Discovery Digital Media and Editor-in-Chief of HowStuffWorks.com. Long-time Atlanta residents may recognize Byrne’s name from his days as editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Sunday Paper.
According to deadline.com, BET has picked up Being Mary Jane (formerly Single Black Female) starring Gabrielle Union. The hour-long pilot was filmed in Atlanta during April and May of this year. Production is scheduled for January but no word yet if the series will return to Georgia. In other BET news, Reed Between the Lines started shooting their new season in Atlanta in late August.
VH1 announced on August 22nd that their Atlanta filmed series Single Ladies was being picked up for a third season.
Oxygen’s Bad Girls Club shoots in the Buckhead area through October 5th.
On October 14th, Robert Zemeckis’ Flight, which was filmed in Georgia last year, will make its premiere as the closing night film for the 50th New York Film Festival. Flight stars Denzel Washington as a seemingly heroic pilot who keeps a plane from crashing.
Nacho Libre again? An independent film being proposed by the Green light project and Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan will be scouting locations in the metro Atlanta area. The film has yet to be given a name. It will be a remake of past Mexican Lucha Libre super hero films, where masked wrestlers double as superheros battling bad guys and monsters.
Mea culpa: Sometimes being a monthly can be a little tricky. Earlier this year we reported that The Getaway, starring Jon Voight, Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez, was set to shoot in Atlanta in June. However, that schedule changed. The shooting did not take place but the film still plans to shoot parts in Atlanta. No firm date has been set at press time.
That’s a wrap! The seemingly never ending reports of Owen Wilson being all over the metro Atlanta area should come to a screeching halt at month’s end as The Internship is set to wrap on September 20th… Love and Hip Hop Atlanta is set to wrap on September 5th after shooting 12 episodes in Atlanta.
A nod to Cobb County resident Sid Powell whose screenplay “Somebody’s Child” took second place in Miami last year during the Gospel Music Channel’s Faith and Family Screenplay contest. The cable network produced Powell’s work into a movie, which had its TV premiere at the end of August.
