Georgia is planning ways to boost regional film tourism and capitalise on the success of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which shot locally. The state is promoting tours of the filming locations and the movie itself contributed to regional spending of nearly USD935 million in 2012/13.
Dystopian sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire filmed scenes on location in Hawaii, using the tropical setting for the story’s jungle and forest scenes. The film follows two young heroes competing in a life-or-death competition in a future North America ruled by a tyrannous wealthy class.
Georgia is likely to get a location filming boost with the renewal of massively-successful TV zombie drama The Walking Dead. The show has spent four seasons filming in the state and consistently high audience ratings for the latest series have prompted a rapid renewal.
The BBC’s zombie drama In The Flesh has started filming a second series in north-west England. Continuing from a three-part opening run, the show is set in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse as the undead are treated for ‘Partially Deceased Syndrome’ and reintegrated into society.
A new TV spy drama set during America’s Revolutionary War of the 1770s will be filmed on location in Virginia with star Jamie Bell. Turn could be similar in style to the 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans, which is also being developed into a miniseries.
A dedicated state film office has been confirmed for Georgia in the south-east US. Authorities have recognised the need for a single, centralised agency to help co-ordinate shoots like locally-filmed zombie drama The Walking Dead as the state’s production industry grows.
Georgia’s generous filming incentives were a crucial element of Pinewood Studios’ decision to invest in the state. The studio has bought a 40% stake in Pinewood Atlanta through a joint venture agreement with River’s Rock LLC.
RoadTown Enterprises was set up in the late 1980s in Los Angeles by Gail Smerigan and Nick Smerigan, and Jeremy Hariton joined in 2010. TLG talks to Nick and Jeremy about the company's specialism in studio management and RoadTown's facilities in Georgia and Mississippi.