Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed the controversial Heartbeat Bill into law Tuesday morning, banning nearly all abortions in the state at the first sign of a fetal heartbeat.
Some high profile Hollywood actors want the film industry to boycott Georgia because of the new law, but Gov. Kemp doesn’t think movie production will be impacted.
Savannah is a popular production spot for movies, and local industry experts don’t expect the bill to change that.
“I think that the impact will be felt, but it won’t be catastrophic,” said Charles Bowen, attorney and founder of the Savannah Film Alliance.
Bowen says despite some groups like the Writer’s Guild of America opposing Georgia’s new abortion restrictions, he doesn’t think film production will suddenly stop in Georgia.
“There is no industry-wide consensus,” Bowen said. “You’ve got a small, vocal minority that is very upset, but you’ve got the industry-wide people that realize, look, the people who are going to be impacted by a boycott are not the people sitting up in the Statehouse. It’s the people that rely upon the entertainment industry for their livelihood, the people that are the hardworking citizens of the state of Georgia.”
Even with the governor signing the bill, it’s not scheduled to go into effect until 2020. Bowen’s not sure it will even get that far. See more comments on WTOC.
