Over on LinkedIn, I shared thoughts daily as we attended Sundance in Park City, Utah from January 18th to January 21st. The commentary is below with links to the full posts on LinkedIn including additional pictures. Take a look at the reel here – Randy Davidson, CEO and Founder of Georgia Entertainment
Day One: Georgia Entertainment at Sundance: Script to Screen –
It’s my first visit. Scenery is mind blowing. The weather is great. People walking up to me that have only seen my picture has been super exciting to meet in person. The buzz for the Georgia event is resounding around Park City. We have a giant standby list. Meetings before and until we leave Sundance with people looking to film in Georgia is filled to the brim. The Georgia-based companies supporting the Script to Screen event have been incredible — many are Sundance pros and have leveraged this trip to the max. Proud to be among other Georgians repping the state to storytellers worldwide. (Pictures)
Day Two: Georgia Entertainment at Sundance: Script to Screen – What a night. A few quick observations.
Our event was full of leading independent filmmakers and executives from major production companies with either films showing at Sundance this year or in the hopper for 2025. The swag vanished, Creative Economy Journals were appreciated, and the Georgia message was spread throughout the evening.
Two thoughts from all my conversations: First: Happy filmmakers return to places that deliver, sad filmmakers are looking for better places to film. We had both in the room last night. We received valuable feedback from producers that have worked in Georgia as well as those looking to do projects in the state. Georgia has a huge opportunity to service this “customer base” on an even bigger scale than we do now. In business terms, other locations have left the door open for Georgia.
The other thought is what “Location” really means. When filmmakers are talking location it’s not just the scenery. Location encompasses state/local/public/private attitude, VFX, incentives, music, professional base (accountants, lawyers, finance), catering, hotels, transportation and the whole infrastructure. Georgia is in a good position in most of these areas and is getting better.
Thanks again to all those that attended and our partners that made this possible. (Pictures)
Day 3: Georgia Entertainment at Sundance, Quick notes and observations.
We woke up early and had a download session with the team at a breakfast spot you had to take a ski lift to get to. Light snow all day. The World of Hyatt Hotels Corporation gathering was really fun. We saw so many people from our event in other spots today. Many were looking for TVs to watch the playoffs – The 49ers and Packers game was the talk of Park City. We connected with Monarch Private Capital and Robin Delmer at their Meet the Commissioners event – Thanks Robin and Marco Cordova, CPA. Crizz Quinn has trouble walking in the snow. Interesting conversations about Festival de Cannes and SXSW. (Pictures)
Day 4: Georgia Entertainment at Sundance, Closing Thoughts and Observations
Thank you all for following these posts the last few days and all the comments and messages. The whole experience of attending a festival outside Georgia and promoting Georgia at an event outside the state was brand new. It was a wonderful experience.
– Georgia has a very good reputation among those who have not filmed in the state. But many see us as just another state with incentives not as aware of the strong support services, studio capacity and workforce/education landscape. Big opportunity.
– We received valuable feedback from those that have produced projects in the state. Nothing new in terms of areas many are already working to improve like smoother turn/communication/process in regards to the film tax credit and more teamsters and union efficiency/cooperation.
– Gaming and IP were hot topics. There is so much to say about both of these topics and how content will be consumed in the future.
Overall, we left super energized. We were encouraged about the readership and reach Georgia Entertainment has outside of Georgia and being able to physically engage like we enjoy doing at our events in the state. We will seek other events and opportunities to be in other places around the world – alongside our partners in attendance and promoting the incredible resources of Georgia’s creative industries. (Pictures)
