How Jimmy Carter Set the Stage for Atlanta to Become the 'Hollywood of the South'
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12/30/2024 11:30 AM
Georgia's $4.4 billion entertainment industry, centered around Atlanta, all started in the 1970s with an idea from its then-governor
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Jimmy CarterIf you've sat through the end credits scene of a Marvel blockbuster, chances are you have seen an orange peach logo next to the words "filmed in Georgia." And the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not alone — some of the biggest movie and television productions in the world are filmed in the Atlanta metro area.
So how did Georgia's capital become the Hollywood of the South? It started with Jimmy Carter, who would become the 39th U.S. president, and his vision of attracting a booming industry to generate wealth for his home state.
Related: Jimmy Carter, Longest-Living U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Humanitarian, Dies at 100
In 1972, audiences had the twang of "Dueling Banjos" stuck in their heads from the Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight survival thriller Deliverance. Filmed in Georgia, the movie put the state on the entertainment map.
Carter, who was Georgia's governor at the time, realized the economic potential in keeping up the momentum, and would begin thinking of ways to convince filmmakers in Hollywood and New York to seek greener pastures out in the Peach State — so he established the Georgia Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office.
Related: How Jimmy Carter's Presidency Was Really 'Ahead of His Time,' According to New Documentary
Carter's vision, he later recounted to Vanity Fair journalist Douglas Brinkley, was to create a "Hollywood of the South."
The film office has since worked with several hundred major productions, and in 2022 it generated $4.4 billion for the state. Georgia productions for 2022 included Spider-Man: No Way Home and Netflix's Ozark.
Related: Jimmy Carter's Life in Photos
Governor Carter encouraged officials to cut down as much red tape as possible for film crews, beyond just offering tax credits. His film office launched a program that connected filmmakers with local liaisons to help secure permits and accommodations, making the process smoother.
"We would do anything that was legal," Carter told Brinkley. "Sometimes we would stretch the law to make it easy for them to make the films."
"For instance, when [producers] wanted to make The Longest Yard, we turned over the Regional State Prison," he said, adding that the prison warden even offered to shack up in a local motel so that Reynolds could stay in his house while filming.
That can-do attitude nurtured by Carter in the 1970s exists to this day.
Tom Luse, executive producer of The Walking Dead, said some of the scenes they filmed would only be allowed in Georgia.
Speaking with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Luse said one scene of the hit AMC series closed off 10 blocks downtown so they could fill it with hundreds of zombies and burned-out military vehicles. "It was the most incredible scene … Only in Atlanta could that happen."
The legacy of Carter's contribution to the film industry was even turned into a museum exhibit in 2019, featuring extensive memorabilia and a recreation of Netflix's Stranger Things living room.
