Hollywood South Is Hurting: Inside Georgia’s Film Slowdown and Its Impact on Black Talent

Atlanta has long been the scene where Black creatives could thrive both behind and in front of the camera. Since the 1970s, when then-Gov. Jimmy Carter launched the Georgia Film Office, the opening of Tyler Perry studios and other large-scale production facilities over the past twenty years, and a favorable film tax credit, the state has played a pivotal role, hosting an award-winning slate of TV shows and movies. 

The result: thousands of jobs for Black talent to break into an industry they had long been locked out of.

From Selma to The Hunger Games, Vampire Diaries, and TV series such as The Walking Dead, Atlanta, Black Lightning, Lovecraft Country, and The Hate U Give, Georgia-based projects have proved solid employers for hundreds of Black creatives. 

But since 2023, the Georgia production has cratered, as factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and labor strikes have put once-thriving careers and livelihoods as actors, hairstylists, makeup artists, prop stylists, wardrobe assistants, camera operators, and sound engineers in jeopardy.

In July, Disney’s Marvel Studios announced it would be relocating to a space outside of London, citing lower production costs and cheaper labor. The loss brings an obvious financial hit to Georgia, which once counted over a dozen productions in the Marvel universe alone. 

The state hosted 273 productions between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, according to its website. Atlanta magazine reported that about 1,000 film permits are issued each year, but from June 2023 through July 2024, that number fell by 50%. According to reports, state revenue from TV and film production has fallen by nearly half.

Going from boom to bust

The impact of Georgia’s production slump has severely impacted assistant prop master Terrance Shelton. For the past 15 years, Shelton has been working in production in Atlanta, but by the end of 2023 and the start of 2024, his work completely dried up. 

“When the strikes ended, everybody just thought things [would go] back to normal, and work basically evaporated,” Shelton told Capital B Atlanta. 

When production work was flowing, Shelton, who was brought into the industry by veteran Black prop master Kevin Ladson, was working on popular series like The Game and blockbusters like Creed, easily making six figures annually. Today, he makes less than a quarter of that. Shelton said that because of Ladson’s standing in the industry, his rates were negotiated higher, and often the prop crew was majority Black, something Shelton said will likely not be the norm. Ladson died this August. 

“After the strikes, we started noticing the negotiations got a lot harder, getting the things that we were accustomed to just having. The wage got a lot less. And one of the things that’s new is they’re doing these nonunion projects, and they’re giving you a flat rate,” Shelton said, adding that he was recently offered $350 for a 12-hour day. 

As a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union, Shelton’s pay on a union production would include money for his medical insurance and his pension. 

“I know there are some friends who have been able to cobble together a living doing bit work, but they’re taking whatever they can get. I have one friend who started selling off his stuff.” 

Terrance Shelton, assistant prop master

“I know there are some friends who have been able to cobble together a living doing bit work, but they’re taking whatever they can get,” Shelton said. “I have one friend who started selling off his stuff. He was selling off equipment. He was selling off some weapons that he owned. … Normally, he works on set with me, but now he’s part of a swing gang. Those are the people who work the off-hours when the production isn’t filming, and he’s thankful to get it because he knew that it would be consistent work over the next few months.”

Shelton said he’s able to pay his mortgage by managing properties owned by his parents.  

Tia Miller is the director of marketing and communications for the Trilith Foundation, the community outreach arm for professional creatives through Trilith Studios. Originally known as Pinewood Atlanta Studio, Trilith operates 34 studios on 700 acres in Fayetteville, Georgia. Most recently, the studio released Superman, Ironheart, and Captain America: Brave New World. 

The foundation offers a range of services, including classes, community events, and a $500 mental health subsidy for creatives who need it. 

“I think the biggest thing that happens in the industry, in particular, people of color, we already come from a background where mental health is not talked about, so it carries on. But even in the industry, it magnifies. That’s one great thing that we do offer,” Miller said. 

The foundation has also begun hiring actors to give tours at Trilith. 

“We’re able to give them a job until they’re able to get to their next gig to hold them over. The great thing about it is that we’ll hold their jobs for them when they go on set. We have a young lady who just went on set for literally eight weeks, and she was able to go do that job and come right back and still give tours. That’s one main thing is keeping them employed,” Miller said. 

Ebony Blanding grew up in Atlanta. After finishing college at Georgia State in film and video in 2003, she said, she hit the ground running. Blanding has worked as a production assistant with Tyler Perry, Will Packer, and her own independent projects have screened at the Atlanta Film Society, the Cape Town International Film Festival, and SXSW, among others.

She said there was a time when production was so busy, she had to turn work down. 

“We’re not necessarily afforded that luxury,” Blanding said, adding, “Now, it’s like, if you get a bite, you’ve got to take it because you don’t honestly know where the next gig is coming from.” 

Because her work has slowed significantly, Blanding opted to take a 9-to-5 job at 

Re: Imagine Atlanta, a nonprofit media organization that develops a pipeline for people ages 16 to 24 to work in different sectors of media. She said she feels blessed to have the job, but if things in the industry were busier, she probably wouldn’t be working there. 

Rebecca Gordon, chief operating officer and co-founder of TSA Network (The Song-Writers & Artist Network), tells Capital B that things have changed significantly since 2017, when she began working as a producer on music videos. 

“A lot of the labels and the networks don’t have the budgets that they used to have,” she explained, “So it’s like you’re not filming every day, like you were before.” 

Gordon said she’s gone from making between $550 to $1,000 a day to equity-based, or deferred-pay, for projects. 

One pivot Gordon’s production company made was forming a partnership with RJR Props, an Atlanta stalwart prop house owned by Rich “RJ” Rappaport. The company has been providing props, sets, and set dressing for TV shows such as Ozark and films like Ant-Man and Spider-Man since 1991. 

“He [Reynolds] was telling me how it’s been hard for him,” Gordon said. “So, we decided to partner together to open up the products and services to more independent labels and smaller budgets, and that’s what has kept us afloat during this time.” 

Gordon’s company also recently began working with a luxury real estate firm in Atlanta, connecting clients with available locations for smaller and mid-range production budgets. 

Finding a new path

Frank Patterson, CEO and president of Trilith Studios, said that it’s not just Atlanta; The entire entertainment industry across the country is down dramatically at the moment. 

“If our studio systems between film and television were producing basically 600 products a year, we’re down to 200,” he said, adding, “I’m sure we’re coming back, and it’ll settle at 400. I’m using round numbers.” 

Despite the slump, Patterson said he remains hopeful. He said he believes the future of Black creatives will be with those trailblazing storytellers creating content in pioneering ways. 

“When these down cycles happen, to me, this is the most exciting time. Because every time it happens, without doubt, something new emerges that, at the end of the day, broadens the lens of voices that are now on the stage and increases the reach,” he said. 

One new creative Patterson points to is Andrew Desbordes, aka Druxi. A Black comedian and actor known for his own sketch comedy work on Coulda Been Records, and his appearance in music videos with artists such as Drake, Jack Harlow, and Lil Yachty. 

“Drew is an amazing creator,” Patterson said. “I look at business trends, and I see the ups and downs of these business cycles. In every down cycle, there’s some young person who comes in and says, ‘Yeah, I don’t care how you all did it before. I’m going to create something very cool.’ And it becomes the next thing. Drew is one of those people.”

For Autumn Bailey-Ford, founder of an Atlanta-based production company Autumn Bailey Entertainment, the future still looks bright for Black creatives.

“Black Hollywood South [a term she said is racist and marginalizes people] is not shutting down. If anything, we’re experiencing unprecedented growth. There are countless Black voices waiting to be heard, and we won’t stop until they are amplified,” Bailey-Ford said in an email to Capital B Atlanta. 

Bailey-Ford is currently executive producing a Barbershop TV series, shooting in Chicago, and has several films in the works — some will shoot in Georgia, she said, and others in Cape Town, South Africa. 

“Black creatives and Black people as a whole have always been enterprising and resilient. We’ve mastered the art of adaptation and innovation throughout history, and this moment is no different. … This isn’t a retreat — it’s evolution,” she said.

One of the most prominent studios in Georgia is Tyler Perry Studios, a 330-acre lot located on the former Fort McPherson Army base, purchased by the actor, screenwriter, director, and producer, Tyler Perry. It is one of the largest studios in the country and where the mogul produced his own TV series and movies, as well as Marvel projects and other productions shooting on his lots. But even Perry has had to make adjustments recently, given the state’s production slump. 

In November 2024, Atlanta magazine reported that Perry was putting his $800 million expansion on hold. The expansion would have added 12 new soundstages to his massive studio. 

Stacey Milner is the president and CEO of Entertainment Industry College Outreach Program (EICOP), a nonprofit educational arts workforce development organization that trains, educates, and recruits students from historically Black colleges and universities who are interested in the entertainment industry. 

“In this space, I think what’s happening, particularly in the South, and even here in Hollywood, is that we have to pivot. We have to stay creative. We have to be innovative in order to weather this thing,” Milner said, adding that creatives are moving online. 

“We’ve been doing it since slavery, where we create and make our own, from soul food to hot sauce to civil rights, our own restaurants and buildings, to now we have to produce and create and make our own productions and create our own production companies,” Milner said. 

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