Governor Brian P. Kemp announced that the major motion picture, television, and streaming companies plan to bring back and hire an estimated 40,000 production workers, who will be employed on an expected seventy-five production projects that will invest over $2 billion into the Georgia economy during the next eighteen months.
This includes plans by producers to purchase goods and services from over 17,000 small Georgia businesses, according to the Motion Picture Association-America, which compiled the data from its members.
“The entertainment production industry is coming back and ready to jumpstart the Georgia economy by creating jobs and generating greatly needed investment and spending in communities across the Peach State,†said Governor Kemp.
The major production companies, which are members of MPA-America include The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros.
This announcement follows the “COVID-19: Georgia Best Practices for Film and Television†production guide for studios provided by the Georgia Film Office, a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), that complements the safety protocols recently released by the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee Task Force, which will help to ensure a safe workplace environment and reduce the spread of the virus.
In 2019, the 391 film and television productions filmed in Georgia supported 3,040 motion picture and television industry businesses.
"Production companies want to be in Georgia and create tens of thousands of jobs for workers across the state, and today's announcement is welcome news as we continue safely reopening our state," said Governor Kemp. "I thank the Georgia Film Office for their work during the pandemic, and I thank the production companies who always vowed to return to Georgia when the time was right for them to safely get back to work.â€
“The creative arts and entertainment – particularly television and film – have long been driving forces in our economy, and they will be instrumental as we recover from the impact of the pandemic,†said Georgia House of Representatives Speaker David Ralston.
“As a longtime supporter of this industry and the jobs it creates, I am proud of the strong partnership between Governor Kemp, the General Assembly, the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and production companies. Working together, we will keep Georgia the leading destination for film and television production thousands of Georgia jobs depend on it.†■