Atlanta Story Partners LLC (ASP) today confirmed they recruited Grammy-winning star power to create the soundtrack for the feature documentary “The Games in Black & White.”
Atlanta-based songwriter and producer Dallas Austin joins the ASP team as music director for the film, the first comprehensive look at the 1996 Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games. As music director, Austin will produce an original theme song, recruit talent and direct “The Games in Black & White” soundtrack.
“The Games in Black & White” is scheduled to debut in spring 2024.
Austin joins the film team with an array of music and film experience as a Grammy winner and film producer, most prominently including work on Atlanta-centric films “Drumline” and “ATL.” During his career spanning more than three decades, Austin collaborated with or produced hit recordings with Michael Jackson, P!nk, Monica, TLC, Duran Duran, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Bjork and Lionel Richie. Austin was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.
Austin’s previous Atlanta Olympic-related work includes collaboration to create the popular House of Blues music venue (later renamed The Tabernacle) during the Atlanta Games. His current local projects include creation of the Music Experience for Centennial Yards.
“When I heard about ‘The Games in Black & White’ with its focus on the friendship between Andy Young and Billy Payne, I wanted to be a part of it,” said Austin, founder of Rowdy Records Inc. “The Games had a huge impact on Atlanta’s hip-hop and creative community, and I’m hoping to add a bit of that storyline to the film. I see this film as a perfect way to add another verse to Atlanta’s amazing role in the global music scene.”
“It has been great discussing the potential of the film as a platform for Atlanta’s music with Dallas,” said George Hirthler, ASP co-founder. “His knowledge of the history of the music scene, the players and their influence—well, it’s just off the charts. Dallas will help us create immense crossover appeal for the film.”
“Drawing authentic Atlanta talent and voices to ‘The Games in Black & White’ has been a goal of ours from the beginning of the film project,” said ASP co-founder Bob Judson.
The Centennial Olympic Games of 1996 were billed as “the largest peacetime gathering in history.” “The Games in Black & White” will assess the decades-long impact of “The Bid, The Games and The Legacy.”
Production on the documentary began in early 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic halted work that summer. Through recently secured corporate support, production resumed in summer 2022, on track for a spring 2024 premiere as interest builds for the Olympic Games in Paris.
“Given the state of race relations today, it’s increasingly important to tell empowering stories of Blacks and Whites working together to achieve shared goals, and ‘The Games in Black & White’ will do just that,” said Hirthler.
Founded in 2019, Atlanta Story Partners is the co-creation of Hirthler, an Atlanta-based writer/producer, Olympic campaign strategist, author and amateur sports historian, and Emmy winning veteran filmmaker/producer/director Bob Judson, whose career spans over 45 years and numerous films and television projects, including “The Treasure Seekers,” the series that launched the National Geographic Channel.
Along with Payne and Young, the Atlanta Story Partners team has completed interviews with over 45 people associated with the 1996 Games or the Olympic Movement, including former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Martin Luther King III and former First Lady of Atlanta Valerie Jackson, among others. The team also interviewed U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland as well as LA28 Board Chair Casey Wasserman, five-time Olympic medalist and LA28 Chief Athlete Officer Janet Evans, and LA28 Chief of Games Management Doug Arnot, who was also managing director of venues and operations at the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.
During September 2023, the team interviewed 1996 Olympic decathlon champion Dan O’Brien and completed a two-day on-location shoot involving more than 30 crew members capturing narration and other footage across Centennial Olympic Park.
Previously, the Atlanta Story Partners team also travelled to Europe in April, securing interviews with five-time Norwegian Olympic medalist Johann Olav Koss, who emerged from the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics as the leader of Olympic Aid, an international humanitarian outreach that became one of Ambassador Young’s passions in the lead up to Atlanta 1996. The team also interviewed veteran Eurosport journalist and producer Christian Seychal, who covered the Centennial Olympic Games over the course of six years.
