WHY ATLANTA FOR FILM PRODUCTION??

IN MY OPINION:

WILLIAM REYNOLDS:

WHY ATLANTA FOR FILM PRODUCTION??

"There are about 25,000 Georgians who are in the film and television production business and another 30,000 who are indirectly related."

Some of the workers are moving here from slower markets, while the Georgia Film Academy, which just opened a 15,860-sq.-ft. sound stage at Pinewood Atlanta Studios for hands-on experience, and the university and community college systems, will help fill the 3,000–5,000 film industry jobs forecast to open in the state by 2021.

Multihyphenate Tyler Perry, the most successful African-American filmmaker in history, is responsible for about 400 of those jobs at his Atlanta-based production company, but he's hoping to create employment 10 times that in the coming years. "Filming is booming here," he said. "It is amazing the amount of movies that are being shot here, and I'm just super-excited about it on so many levels."

New sound stages are popping up faster than craft-beer bars. Currently, there are 45 sound stages offering more than 2 million square feet of space and growing (although some are just converted warehouses