Astin Rocks. left Atlanta dreaming of being in the film industry. By the time she was a senior at Temple University, the production that now permeates Georgia’s landscape had already begun to flourish.
When Rocks. moved back to Atlanta in 2017, she returned not just to the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the robust, commercial film industry that saturates the Georgia market, but a swiftly expanding independent scene as well. Young aspiring filmmakers were meeting on the sets of larger productions and recruiting each other to work on their own projects, forming a community in real time. As the years went by, organizations like ATLFilmParty and audio_video_club began to crop up, giving those filmmakers a platform to share the work they created.
“I think there was a community here,” Rocks. said. “But making sure that there are places we could celebrate – and more than one, you know what I mean? – I think is the biggest difference.”
The Atlanta indie scene has continued to grow, and certainly there are more opportunities for filmmakers trying to make it than there were a decade ago. But some local filmmakers still feel they are not taken as seriously or given the same consideration as their counterparts in Los Angeles or New York, and – despite a booming commercial industry – the financial strain of making movies is taking its toll.
“A lot of Atlanta filmmakers or Atlanta people who have been here are getting pushed out,” Rocks. said. “We are trying to figure out how to survive huge rent surges while also save for the film that we’ve been trying to make for a while. Because filmmaking is expensive.”
Since the Georgia General Assembly passed the state’s film tax credit in 2008, film and television productions have flocked to the Peach State. The tax incentive allows for a production that spends $500,000 to receive tax credits for up to 30% of the cost of that production. Different sources put the…
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