Have you ever heard of the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act? If you haven't don't worry about it. I'd never heard of it either until September 2010. This legislation, however, makes producing films in Georgia a very lucrative business--a gold mine in the form of tax savings.
On May 12, 2008, Governor Sonny Perdue signed this act into effect. It provides qualified production and post-production companies tax credits of 20 percent for filming in Georgia and an additional 10 percent credit if an imbedded animated Georgia logo is included in the acknowledgements. Productions must have a minimum investment of $500,000 and the credit is available not only to traditional motion picture projects such as feature films, television series, commercials, and music videos, but is also available to innovative new industries such as game development and animation.
“The Blind Side” starring Tim McGraw and Sandra Bullock, “The Crazies” starring Radha Mitchell, “Why Did I Get Married” starring Tyler Perry and Janet Jackson, “The Last Song” starring Miley Cyrus, “Get Low” starring Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Bill Murray, and “The Joneses” starring Demi Moore are but a few of the movies filmed in Georgia since 2008.
The state saw a jump of 400 percent in entertainment productions after the aggressive tax credit package went into effect. In 2009 Georgia was in the top five locations in the nation for film and TV production. It was on top in location filming in the Southeast.
In 1984 Kevin Bacon starred in the movie Footloose. In case you don’t remember, Kevin played Ren MacCormack, an upbeat Chicago teen who moved to a small town only to find dancing and rock music banned thanks to the town’s uptight reverend. This musical drama produced three rock singles: "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins, "Holding Out for a Hero" by Welsh (sung by Bonnie Tyler), and "The Girl Gets Around" by Sammy Hagar, as well as R&B singles; “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” Deniece Williams, “Somebody’s Eyes” by Karla Bonoff, “Dancing in the Sheets” by Shalamar, and the love theme “Almost Paradise” by Mike Reno and Ann Wilson. The soundtrack went on to sell over 9 million copies in the USA.
Now get ready to pat your foot, clap your hands, and sing along. Click on the arrow in the screen below.
In September I visited my son and his wife in Kennesaw. Stephanie, my daughter-in-law, and I went to Acworth Saturday for lunch. While there I learned there was a movie being made in Acworth—the remake of the movie Footloose. Wow! This was one of my favorite old movies. I love the music!
This immediately peaked my interest. My son, John, and I drove through Acworth on Sunday, but he refused to take me by where the movie was being filmed. We got close, but just not close enough for me. So I began to plot my escape from the clutches of my son so I might investigate The Makings of a Movie.
Wednesday dawned a bright, beautiful day. So after John and Stephanie left for work, I strapped my two puppies into their car seats, tucked my camera into the car, and sped off toward Acworth to check out The Makings of a Movie. This is only a six mile drive from John's house to where the movie was being filmed.
If you’ve never been to Acworth, it is the quintessential historical small town. A train track rambles through downtown, stately Victorian houses are copious, and white fences are prominent. In the foothills of the mountains and on the shores of the Corps of Engineers’ Lake Alltooona, Acworth turns into a wonderland of harmonious colors in the fall. The below pictures were taken on several different visits to Acworth.
Back to September now. I arrived in Acworth, located the action, and made a quick drive thru. Then I scouted out a service station, pulled in, and called Paula. I informed her I was on the perimeter of a movie set. She sounded excited, but I wondered if she really grasped I was within blocks of movie stars--I wanted her to cut footloose, kick off her Sunday shoes and show some real excitement. Who cared she was in the middle of moving and was a little distracted. I wanted absolute enthusiasm!
Then before I could pull out of the service station my cell phone rang. Rats! My son calling. He calls me constantly when I'm visiting. I find it difficult to believe he gets any work done when I'm there. His first words are always: Hi Mom. What you doing? Really now! It's like he expects his mother of all people to get into some sort of trouble and he of all people might have to resolve the trouble she gets into. I would never do anything to get myself into trouble.
I advised him I was out and about taking pictures. I just didn't tell him where I was taking pictures and this call he didn't ask me. Thank goodness!
As I drove out of the service station, feelings of guilt consumed me as I realized how frustrated he must have felt when he was young and his over protective mother tried to keep up with him all the time. Now our roles had reversed it seemed. However, these thoughts were fleeting and I quickly returned to my espionage work.
I drove to the parking lot of the Presbyterian Church, which is the church used in the film. I assessed the situation then began taking pictures with one hand and swapping at two yapping dogs in the car with the other hand.
(I would like to say; these are not the best pictures I have ever taken. But, in order to get this exclusive for the Class of ’64 Web Site I had to shoot under some duress--shooting into the sun, dealing with yapping dogs, worrying about a cell phone ringing with my son's voice on the other end the line, and forgetting to take the camera off the HDR setting can take a toll on one's nerves. Then to make matters worse when I uploaded the pictures to Slide.com they seemed to get worse. I made a mental note the next time I go after an exclusive to leave the dogs home, turn the cell phone off when I'm taking pictures, and not to put the camera on the HDR setting at all. There's nothing much I can do about the sun. We learn from experience.)
Next door to the Presbyterian Church is the Baptist Church and this is where all the equipment vehicles were paked.
And, of course, where there are equipment trucks there are also people. The puppies stopped their yapping and went into full-fledged barking. They were bringing attention to us. Attention was not something I needed as I feared my son would really have to fix the issue of my arrest for trespassing or something of that kind this time. Then he would never let me out of his sight when I visited again. He’d probably take me to work with him.
So I left the area. I immediately headed for the actual filming location. This was where the action was anyway and the nice movie people had put up signs for me with arrows that pointed "To Set." Across the railroad tracks I went. And this is what I found:
Not to be dismayed I went around the block (all that was blocked off was the west street of one block and there was only one policeman across the tracks). This is what I found on the other side:
I went around the block several times and I never saw Dennis Quaid who plays Reverend Shaw Moore, Julianne Hough (Dancing with the Stars) who plays Reverend Moore’s daugher (Ariel Moore), or Kenny Warmold who plays Ren MacCormack. I did go back in November and take pictures of the white two story, one-hundred-year-old house owned by Mayor Tommy Allegood that was used for filming that day. At least you’ll be able to recognize it when you see it in the movie.
On that day back in September about the time I finished my third trip around the block, my cell phone rang. “Hi Mom. What you doing?” And this time I could honestly say, “Heading to get some lunch.” Mission accomplished! Exclusive captured! I was finished in Acwrorth!
I will leave you with this, which includes clips from the original film. Click on the arrow in the middle of the screen.
