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Published Thursday, June 25, 2009 in Local

Film/TV industry shot in arm for economy

By Jeff Bishop

The Times-Herald

Senoia and Newnan are "standing on their own" when it comes to attracting new movie and TV shows to the area, RiverWood Studios President Scott Tigchelaar said.

The motion picture "Five Killers," starring Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl and Tom Selleck, is currently filming in metro Atlanta and is basing operations out of RiverWood in Senoia, while cable TV show "Drop Dead Diva" has also been shooting in local areas including Senoia and Newnan.

The trailer for the Woody Harrelson horror-comedy film "Zombieland" premiered last week online and on prints of the new Jack Black film, "Year One." The movie, which was shot partially in Newnan, is set to premiere later this year. The Bill Murray/Robert Duvall film "Get Low" also recently shot scenes in Newnan.

Tigchelaar said the film and TV industry has been a shot in the arm for Coweta's local economy.

"That Sony TV show -- there are 350 people working on that show," he said of "Drop Dead Diva," Lifetime's spirited new comedic drama series that puts a uniquely compelling twist on the age-old battle between brains and beauty. "And 80 percent of their crew is from Georgia."

He credited last year's passage of tax incentives by the Georgia legislature for the recent uptick in movie and TV-related traffic through town.

"If not for that tax incentive, those people who are working on that show would be either unemployed or working somewhere else," Tigchelaar said.

He said the tax incentives have "absolutely" made a huge difference.

"With the studios, that's their first point of consideration when they're looking at where they're going to shoot their projects," he said. "They make up a short list of locations, and the incentives play a big role in who gets onto that list. The whole industry has evolved into an incentive-driven industry.

"If you want to participate and you want them to spend their money here and hire Georgians for their projects and all of that, then you've got to be competitive with your incentives," he said.

He said the tax incentives were drawn up in such a way that "they are good both for the production companies and for the state of Georgia."

While some states write rebate checks to production companies, Georgia is never put into that position, he explained.

"Georgia never has to write a check," he said. "When the production companies come here and spend money, they get a tax credit from the state, and then they can use that for themselves or they can sell it to someone else. If they don't come here and they don't spend the money, then they don't get the tax credit. So I think it's crafted very well."

He said that, especially in today's economy, "it's tough to write a big check."

Senoia and Coweta County "really have some momentum now," he said, as "multiple shows and film companies are coming here."

Georgia is developing the infrastructure for its own "indigenous film industry," he said.

"Nothing creates a significant economic impact like a tax incentive," he said. "It's passed, and then the very next day there's an incentive for film crews to come here and spend significant amounts of money.

"That means local building supply stores sending out trucks to deliver here at the studios, so they can build these huge sets," Tigchelaar said. "That means local equipment rental. They need generators, they need air conditioners. They need lift equipment. They need stuff that would have gone out to construction jobs. But right now, there aren't that many construction jobs. So I'd say we're really fortunate to have these studios here in Coweta County and to have these shows coming here. Because these incentives add a little bit of icing to the cake, something sweet in this otherwise bleak economy.

"An auto plant is great," Tigchelaar said. "And we should be trying to attract auto plants, of course. But from the day you start that process until the day the first car comes off the line -- that could take years and years before you really experience that economic impact. With the film industry, you feel that impact immediately. It could be the very next day."

He said there's much work to be done to fully capitalize on that impact.

"The film crews have taken over the hotels in Peachtree City," he said. Why not build a hotel in Senoia? It's one of the projects Tigchelaar's working on with his development company, Historic Development Ventures.

Meanwhile, he said, "the local restaurants, the gas stations, the building supply places -- this benefit gets spread around across the whole local economy. We're only seeing a small part of it at RiverWood. The benefit goes all over."

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