Stand-up comedian Katt Williams has acquired a former military installation in Alabama with intentions to launch a movie studio.
The move, first reported by GQ, makes Williams the latest celebrity to get into the studio business, joining an unofficial club with members including Atlanta’s own Tyler Perry, 50 Cent and Robert DeNiro.
“It’s just not fair to put all that pressure on Tyler Perry,” Williams said to GQ. “He can only do so much.”
The transaction echoes Perry’s purchase years ago of much of Atlanta’s closed Fort McPherson, which Perry has since turned into a sprawling campus where he films his own projects and leases studio space to other filmmakers.
Williams’ publicist Amy Sisoyev confirmed the acquisition in a statement to AL.com, though didn’t disclose the exact location. But the Cold War-era barracks of decommissioned U.S. Army post Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama, was on the market for $1.5 million last year. The broker representing the seller told AL.com that Williams visited the property frequently during the purchase phase.
A message left for Williams’ publicist by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was not immediately returned.
The McClellan property is smaller than Fort McPherson, but it includes 30 concrete buildings with 3 million square feet of indoor space, 10 barracks with 20 rooms each, two gymnasiums and 90 acres of land.
Williams, who previously lived in metro Atlanta and is banned in two Georgia counties, is pursuing this project during a turbulent period for studio operators. Production has lagged after last year’s dual Hollywood strikes, leaving soundstages across the country — many of them built in the last five years — empty. After several years of having too many productions with too little soundstage space, the roles have reversed. However, if Williams were to refashion the McClellan property into a studio, it doesn’t seem like he would have to build much from the ground-up, which could lessen the risk of getting into the business at this point in time.
Atlanta not only has Tyler Perry Studios at Fort McPherson, but part of another former metro Atlanta installation is home to a filming campus. Part of the former Fort Gillem in Forest Park is home to BlueStar Studios, which has two soundstages and several restored historic buildings.
Compared with Georgia, Alabama has a more modest film incentive program. The state offers a refundable tax credit on 25-35% of eligible expenses for production. The state doesn’t have an annual cap on how much it will give back to a production, but each project can only receive incentives on the first $20 million of its qualified spend. That’s part of the reason why few tentpole movies — big-budget flicks, often of the superhero variety — have filmed in Alabama.
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