New Film and TV Studio Breaks Ground in Athens

Since passing tax credits in 2008, film and television has become a $4 billion industry in Georgia, with the number of productions annually surpassing even California. But metro Atlanta has reaped most of the benefit.

Sure, Athens has seen film and TV crews shoot a scene or two here and there, but rarely is an entire production based in Athens. With a large new studio planned halfway between downtown and Winterville, productions that might once have gone to Savannah or one of the many studios in the Atlanta area will be able to set up shop in Athens.

Athens native and University of Georgia graduate Joel Harber, president of commercial and real estate development and brokerage firm Reynolds Capital, is working with local developer Tim Burgess, local architects Koons Environmental Design and E+E Architecture, and UGA’s film studies program, among others, to build a 45-acre, 350,000 square foot studio in an industrial area off Athena Drive.

“Watching such tremendous growth in the film industry over the past eight years has been great, but we haven’t really seen entire productions filmed in Athens,” Harber said. “Not having a proper sound stage space has really kept our area from reaching its full potential.”

Read more: https://flagpole.com/featured/2021/11/16/new-film-and-tv-studio-breaks-ground-in-athens/