By Carol Badaracco Padgett
As prime film locations, Alpharetta, Roswell and Cumming double effortlessly for anywhere USA. Each city is packed with enclaves of distinct personality that includes international and local businesses, production-savvy municipalities and services, stunning parks and greenspaces, and world-class professional production facilities within a short drive.
Something else these cities offer: staggering economic and population growth since the pandemic’s close. In short, the North Fulton and Forsyth County areas are ripe with financial resources, an influx of creative city dwellers, entrepreneurs, and businesses—all within the vortex of the state’s multibillion entertainment industry.
Another ace for the region is that they’ll be the distinct topics of discussion in the second stop of the nine-city Georgia Unscripted roadshow on July 19, 2023, in Roswell at Signature Production Group Southeast. The event takes a look at the economic impact—financial and creative—the Georgia film, TV, music and gaming industries are having on the state, the specific region’s growth and potential, and where the greatest opportunities lie in the fast-approaching future.
As a venue, Signature Production Group Southeast, a one-stop-solution studio for film, video and production, provides an ultramodern suburban backdrop for the roadshow meeting of the minds. As in the first stop in Athens at the end of June, industry presenters and panel discussion members will include area business owners, local industry creatives and visionaries, elected representatives and educational leaders—all sharing insights on the state of the creative economy in Georgia.
The backdrop is even richer when viewed within the matrix of the area’s three prime film-location cities.
In Alpharetta (film location of Sully, The Change-Up and countless others), for example, the big-picture landscape includes an organic working farm, a state-of-the-art outdoor amphitheater that holds 12,000 people, a colossal equestrian center, everything from historic homes to log cabins and mega-mansions, a cemetery dating back to 1860, the upscale Avalon mixed-use development, vast greenspace and 27 city parks, a historic downtown with original storefronts, one of the largest shopping malls in the nation, and free assistance from city government with location scouting and permitting.
Alpharetta is also an up-and-coming force in gaming, with industry-leading developer Hi Rez Studios and its games-as-a-service, free-to-play business model based there. The company’s aim, its reps say, is building community and making sure income level and user platform don’t hold back any gamer’s access.
Roswell, as a location (Richard Jewell, Den of Thieves and other productions of all sizes and budgets), includes a vacant jail, seven miles of the Chattahoochee River with pedestrian boardwalk, City Hall and courtrooms with flexibility for filming, mill ruins and antebellum estates, a quaint and funky downtown area, and homes to rent on location—every shape, size and time period.
Roswell is even pumping young musicians into the creative stream, as well, with Thunder Road Studio that gives lessons and gets students started in jam sessions within their first weeks of training.
In Forsyth County, Cumming (Smokey and the Bandit, Road Trip and a long list throughout the years) adds its own locational appeal, resting alongside Lake Lanier, a prime body of water for boating, fishing, kayaking and other water sports, a county courthouse and jail, ample Forsyth County school buildings, office-type spaces, and an unending supply of lakeside woods and trails.
Music in and around Cumming and Forsyth County is charged with its own kind of electricity. The city’s Hewlett Studios is a full-service audio recording/mixing studio that includes an artist development center. Little Rat Tracks, an independent record label, is also in Cumming.
In addition to all the entertainment industry businesses that North Metro cities have pulled into their spheres, they’re also just a 20-30 minute drive from downtown. Which makes them close neighbors with some of the state’s major film studios—Trilith, Tyler Perry Studios, Cinelease Studios, Electric Owl Studios, EUE Screen Gems and other state-of-the-art production facilities, with seas of sound stages and back lots, for example. Some of the state’s best creative industry training grounds are nearby residents, as well: Georgia State and its Creative Media Industries Institute and virtual production studios, the Georgia Film Academy, and so many others.
As even more film, TV, music, gaming and other media outlets and opportunities gravitate to Georgia, these ventures will undoubtedly feel the pull of the outlying areas in North Fulton and Forsyth County.
Space is limited, so reserve your spot at the next Georgia Unscripted roadshow on July 19, 2023.
