By Tim Molloy
First things first: The Los Angeles fires had no impact on this, our latest annual list of the Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker. Los Angeles, like New York City, has been in our Best Places Hall of Fame for five years, because those two cities are so obviously the world’s entertainment capitals that there’s no need to list them. They will endure.
That said, we believe the best places to live and work as a moviemaker are places where you will actually make movies: Your ideal city or town will have a large enough industry presence that you can get a day job there that is at least industry-adjacent, but that allows you enough time and headspace to make personal projects you love….
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Long a homebase of superhero epics from both Marvel and DC, as well as the home of Tyler Perry Studios, Atlanta has plenty of built-in business, buttressed by a 20% Georgia tax credit, which can be boosted another 10% for productions that use the state’s famous peach logo. Recent productions that have shot in the area include Cobra Kai, P-Valley, Marvel’s Thunderbolts and Akiva Schaffer’s upcoming update of The Naked Gun, starring Liam Neeson. The local crews are among the most professional and diverse in the business, with a shared commitment to excellence. Permitting is easy and conducted via Apply 4’s Filmapp, and you’ll have a wide range of gorgeous locations to film — and time to film them – thanks to Atlanta’s sumptuous green spaces and near-year-round sunshine. The outlook is sunny, too — there’s an optimism and energy to Atlanta that’s impossible to miss. The local film festivals include the Atlanta Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee, and local schools include the magnificently curated Atlanta campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design, which combines inspiring architecture with artwork by students and alums.
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