Every October, Hollywood’s elite arrives in Savannah, Georgia, for the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. And, while the star power brings fans — and their disposable income — from far and wide, key players in the entertainment industry see it as something more for our state.
Walker Dalton, Executive Director of the Savannah Regional Film Commission: “Historically, the film industry is in Los Angeles. But around 2006, they implemented the incentives program here — which at the time was the most robust incentive program to come out, and which has been greatly modeled across the country. That’s the 30% tax incentive that is offered to productions for film and television.”
Those incentives enabled key players with the local film commission to bring blockbuster movies to the Coastal Empire like Baywatch, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, the live-action Lady and the Tramp, and The Menu.
For years, Georgia was the place to make a movie. But in 2023, the Writers Guild of America —representing 11,500 screenwriters—went on strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. That strike lasted from May to September, virtually halting all film production. Dalton says the industry is still recovering. And that means fewer productions filming in Georgia.
“It’s a challenging industry and it always has been. I’ve been privy to strikes and other disruptions inside of it. It’s a highly adaptive beast. So, as it adapts, everybody always has to catch up. Those decisions have caused a ripple effect and I think the industry as a whole is reexamining itself from the inside, saying, “What are we going to put our money against? And that’s caused a huge pause for 2024.”
But Dalton says, like any industry, challenges are cyclical. His team is hard at work marketing Savannah specifically to the entertainment world. He says Georgia cities big and small — Atlanta, Augusta, Macon, Athens, just to name a few — also strive to bring film production back to the state. And “film production” doesn’t only mean movies. Dalton says that includes anything involving a camera: fashion shoots for major publications, commercials, anything that requires media to be captured, that translates to jobs and income for Georgia.
The #SCAD Savannah Film Festival (#SSFF) began Saturday, October 26th and runs through Saturday, November 2nd. This year’s scheduled guests of honor include Amy Adams, Demi Moore, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and Sebastian Stan.