Direct spending on TV, film plummets 37% in Georgia, hurt by strikes

Direct spending in Georgia from TV and film producers tumbled by more than a third in the fiscal year that ended June 30 compared to fiscal 2023 due to the double whammy of two strikes and reduced spending from media companies across the board.

The $2.6 billion direct spending figure, was down 37%. It was also the lowest spending amount since the pandemic year of 2020, when production literally stopped for months starting in March of 2020. Excluding that year, fiscal 2024 is the weakest year the state has seen since fiscal year 2016.

The drop off “doesn’t surprise me,” said Robyn Watson, who runs Women in Film & Television Atlanta. “We are operating on 2018 numbers now. I can’t say people are feeling optimistic, but there is some hope things will turn around this fall. These are challenging times. A lot of our members are just not working. We’ve seen the layoffs at places like Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount .”

After the pandemic, there was a burst of pent-up business that lifted spending in Georgia to a record $4.4 billion in 2022. Even though the final quarter of fiscal year 2023 was impacted by the writers strike which began in May and lasted 148 days, the state still generated $4.1 billion in direct spending that year. (The four-month actors strike started in July.)

There were 273 productions in the state between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, down from 390 in fiscal year 2023 and 412 the year before, according to the Georgia film office, which keeps track of active TV and film productions in the state.

Currently, the office is reporting just 23 productions, the lowest since last November when the writers and actors strikes had just concluded.

Last year, the writers and actors strikes crippled filming in the state. Business didn’t really pick up until early 2024 and threats of a crew strike by late summer slowed business again by May. Unions representing the crews recently agreed to new contracts averting a third labor stoppage.

At the same time, most of the major media companies have been more focused on generating profit for their streaming services than spending robustly to build their customer base as they did from 2017 to 2022. Both basic cable and broadcast networks have been severely trimming expenditures as well.

The CW, for instance, was once a major player in metro Atlanta with shows like “Vampire Diaries” and “Dynasty.” But the network, under new ownership, has largely stopped creating its own scripted programming and no longer has any productions in Atlanta.

Netflix has two major successful high budget TV shows ― “Cobra Kai” and “Stranger Things” ― that have shot in metro Atlanta this past year, but they are in their final seasons. Netflix’s other big series commitment in Atlanta is “Sweet Magnolias,” which recently concluded shooting its fourth season here.

Marvel recently completed a major Marvel movie “Thunderbolts” starring Florence Pugh and Harrison Ford out of Trilith Studios in Fayetteville. But Marvel last month indicated that the next two “Avengers” films will be shot in England, not Georgia, where the last two “Avengers” films were produced.

On the bright side, Peacock has made a major commitment to Atlanta with upcoming shows like “Fight Night” starring Kevin Hart and Samuel L. Jackson, and “Teacup” with Yvonne Strahovski, both based out of the new Assembly Studios in Doraville in the past year. Films such as the “Naked Gun” reboot starring Liam Neeson and “Flowervale Street” with Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway recently finished filming at Electric Owl Studios in Atlanta.

Max is also shooting John Cena’s second season of “Peacemaker” in Georgia, moving from Vancouver, while Amazon recently wrapped “Oh. What. Fun,” a holiday movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer. And Tyler Perry over the past year continues to pump out his wide array of BET and BET+ TV shows as well as movies such as the upcoming historical drama “Six Triple Eight” starring Kerry Washington on Netflix.

Among TV shows shooting in Atlanta now include the second season of NBC’s “Found,” the second season of Paramount+’s “Tulsa King” and the third season of ABC’s “Will Trent.”

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