Originally posted Thursday, December 5, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
December, with the holidays crowding out the final two weeks, tends to be the slowest month of the year for production in Georgia and the active list is the lowest it has been since I began tracking in May.
There are only 31 active films and TV shows on the Georgia film office list as of December 5. A dozen productions have closed shop in the past month while seven have started up.
That’s a net drop of five from 36 in November. It’s also less than there were at this point a year ago when there were 36 active productions.
The “heartbeat” abortion bill in May spurred talk of a boycott. It’s not clear right now if the state has lost much given the worldwide demand for sound stages. All the streaming services are spending billions on new production.
The whiff of uncertainty has impacted TV series more than films and reality programming. There were 21 scripted TV series in production on December 4, 2018. A year later, there are only 12.
But films are up, from five to eight.
Reality TV? About the same. There were 10 a year ago and 11 now.
(As of December 20, Tyler Perry added three more shows: “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne,” “Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living” and “Tyler Perry’s Young Dylan” plus NatGeo added a “Genius” episode featuring Aretha Franklin shooting at the same time as the film about Franklin “Respect.” Shows that wrapped since Dec. 4: “Boomerang S2,” “Central Avenue,” “Christmas Love Letter,” “Lovecraft Country,” “The Slaton Sisters” and Thunder Force.” The number of productions that day was 29.)
Here is a list of seven show and films that started the past month:
"Architect" Disney+. This is clearly a fake name. It might be the Marvel "Loki" series.
"Central Avenue" . This is Will Packer's syndicated newsmagazine being tested for five weeks through mid December in several cities including Atlanta's Fox 5 at 7 p.m.
"Christmas Love Letter" indie film. I know nothing about this one.
"Life by the Ton" TLC reality TV. Seems like a spin-off of the show "Family by the Ton."
"OJ25" CourtTV. This appears to be some sort of show related to the 25th anniversary of the O.J. Simpson case.
"Samaritan' movie. This is a Sly Stallone action film set to open in the fall of 2020.
"The Tiger Rising" movie. This one stars Dennis Quaid and Queen Latifah.
Shows and films that finished up in the past month:
"American Soul" season 2 BET
"Battlebox" Netflix This is some sort of competition show.
"Cobra Kai" season 3 YouTube
"Coming 2 America: The Quest" film. See ya later Eddie!
"Front Row Killer" film. This is Atlanta-based Crazy Legs Productions' first ever feature film.
"MacGyver" CBS (temporary, will return in January)
"Safety" Disney+ film
"The Daylong Brothers" indie film. The imdb descriptive:
A Southern Gothic tale about three cursed brothers seeking revenge on their long lost daddy who sold their souls to the devil before they were even born.
"The Observance" film. the imdb descriptive:
After 5 years in a coma, Adam Neubauer wakes to find his home and family in the grip of 'The Observance;' a religious cult who will stop at nothing to protect their secrets.
"The Royal" movie
"The Walking Dead" season 10 AMC
"Tyler Perry's Ruthless" BET pilot
Here is my tracking of active Georgia film and TV productions counts to date:
June 14: 37
July 2: 40
July 22: 46
September 5: 42
October 9: 35
November 11: 36
December 5: 31
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