A Q&A with veteran studio head Robert Halmi, who’s bringing “Action!” to Georgia with zero reservations
By Carol Badaracco Padgett
Lionsgate Studios opened four months ago in metro Atlanta’s Douglas County. And that’s a point of contentment and excitement for industry veteran Robert Halmi, founder and CEO of New York-based Great Point Studios, owner and manager of the Atlanta studio.
Halmi grew up on a film set – his father is the famed television producer and director Robert Halmi Sr. The Great Point Studio head is no stranger to Georgia, either. The first film he produced came onto his plate when he was just 23 years old and Halmi Sr. was too busy to handle the production himself.
That film was “When the Circus Came to Town,” shot in Savannah, Georgia, in 1980 and starring Elizabeth Montgomery and Christopher Plumber. Halmi also founded the Hallmark Channel and ran all its assets for 18 years, till 2008.
Today, when some in the industry are thinking and operating pensively as production normalizes following the strikes and general economic uncertainties, Halmi is not riding that bandwagon.
The interview that follows shows why, as Halmi speaks about Great Point Studio’s latest strategic growth move — a new $200-million, 40-acre full production facility just 16 miles from downtown Atlanta.
GE: First off, give us a snapshot of Great Point Studios’ and Lionsgate’s new operations in the South.
Halmi: Lionsgate is our anchor tenant. They have the first rights to use any stages on the premises. Great Point owns and manages the studio for Lionsgate and supplies all the production equipment – lighting, dollies, etc. This is a turnkey facility with all the equipment and amenities, even catering, all on the campus.
GE: Some people believe this is an especially precarious time for the industry – and they can barely see beyond that. What do you believe?
Halmi: I think the most important thing is to understand that our business is really driven by great content and people’s desire to watch great content. Even though we’ve gone through tough times with strikes [and other industry changes], in the end, people never abandon wanting to see great content on TV. As long as that exists, the industry will be here.
People get depressed about a slowdown in business. But I’ve been through them.
I believe in incredible content – people still watch content on Netflix, Disney, and [other platforms]– and there’s lots of room to make this great content.
GE: What makes Great Point Studios different from other studios around the metro Atlanta area?
Halmi: Our studios are designed with the filmmaker in mind. And our team has been together for 40 years, producing $2 billion in television and film product together.
We use that expertise to help anybody who shoots in studios – so they don’t have to bring equipment and services in. We have the right amount of space for set design, space for costumes, and all the support and equipment on-site.
The Atlanta studio is in a great location, and we pride ourselves in how we manage studios and give every production whatever it needs. We’re in Yonkers, Buffalo, Wales, and we bring that experience. My son is the facility manager at the Atlanta location, and he’s doing a great job.
GE: What are some of the reasons you chose Georgia for expansion, and what are some of the reasons others come, in your thinking — beyond the tax credits, crew base, and infrastructure?
Halmi: People don’t realize if they haven’t shot in Georgia how hospitable people are, and how they make productions feel. It’s the experience of shooting there that is nicer than most other places.
It’s just a great experience to be down in Georgia making movies.
GE: What’s your take on the growth of film and television production in Georgia over time, juxtaposed with the sluggishness the entire industry has been facing all over the nation?
Halmi: Since I made my first movie in Savannah in 1980, I’ve produced several more movies in Atlanta, Savannah, and Macon, as well. I’ve watched the film program in Georgia grow in the last 20 years.
This is one of the best tax incentive programs in the nation, in Georgia. In addition, the crew base is in Georgia, and the infrastructure is here. The warehouse space is available there for all productions, as well. Also, Atlanta has 10 really top-notch production facilities, and we’re now one of them.
New York and Los Angeles attract people because the talent lives there.[But] LA has the worst tax credit. It’s considered one of the best locations, though, because most of the talent is there.
New York has a great tax credit, and the crew-base and infrastructure — if you need the look of New York.
In Georgia, it’s the economics … a superior tax credit to LA and New York. And a good crew-base. This has driven people to Atlanta.
After the writers and SAG strikes and the threatened IATSE and Teamsters strike, all this has cost Georgia and the rest of the country a lot of films. Some of these productions went to London and Canada. And once they leave it’s hard to get them back.
We’re all fighting to get it back.
GE: What are your plans for Great Point Studios as you move into the future?
Halmi: I’m excited we opened in Georgia. And like I said, we have stages in Buffalo, New York, in New Jersey, and the UK, and we’re about to start building the largest production facility in the northeast in Yonkers.
We’ve expanded our footprint with a few more facilities and we’ve enlarged our territory.
[After Yonkers], then we’ll be done with building and we’ll be focusing on creating the content.
Like I said, people get depressed about a slowdown in this business. But I’ve been through them. And next year there may be so much work and so many productions that it will be hard to keep up with it all.
This article appeared in the 2025 edition of the Creative Economy Journal. See more from the Journal here.
