As Georgia’s film industry has boomed, helpful Facebook groups have sprung up like toadstools after a rain.
And like any fungus, they involve a certain amount of fertilizer, in the form of rants, arguments, flirting and self-promotion. If you can scroll through that nonsense — or revel in it if you have time to kill — opportunities abound for casting calls, crew calls, hair and makeup needs, indie film opps, student films needing crew or actors, extra work and much more.
For an example of someone who has worked Facebook to achieve something approaching stardom, we offer you the story of Mike Billips. That skeevy lecher extending a dollar bill with his teeth to a stripper in the first season of “Ozark,” that’s Mike. When his work with the Navy Reserve was winding down in 2017, the normally clean-cut Billips began pursuing a second act — literally.
Credit: Courtesy of Mike Billips
Credit: Courtesy of Mike Billips
“I got on Facebook to prioritize the pages of local casting agencies and checked it every morning for casting calls,” he says. “I got work on average one or two days a week that way.”
He also played a school employee and a sheriff’s deputy on “Ozark.” “I was a mercenary, pedestrian and jogger on different episodes of ‘MacGyver’,” he says, “and a journalist on ‘Richard Jewell’ and the television series ‘Manhunt: Unabomber.’ I was practically a series regular on ‘Halt and Catch Fire,’ and I was Paul Reiser’s body double on ‘Stranger Things’.”
Now, Billips, 60, considers himself a working actor. Who needs Schwab’s Drugstore when you have a smokin’, Photoshopped profile pic? But many of the Facebook groups aren’t just for would-be Marvel superheroes or Scorseses — they also help merely curious neighbors figure out what’s filming just down the street.
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Stephen Dean, an aspiring filmmaker, has done background acting work and “set dec,” or set decoration. “What’s important in this business is relationships, and you can foster relationships on social media,” Dean says. “It’s a misperception that you have to go to film school. There are other ways to plug in. You can connect with talent agents through Facebook.”
You can also find all kinds of other unexpected “roles” on the Facebook groups — someone has to take care of the fragile plants on a set, after all. Food also has its own stylists. You might not have noticed the Tupperware in the dinner-on-the-grounds scene in “Hidden Figures,” but it is authentically vintage; God is in the details.
Credit: Chris Hunt Photography
Credit: Chris Hunt Photography
In a sign of our times, another job has sprung up: the COVID Compliance Officer, or CCO. This specialist, now required on all productions, tests employees for the coronavirus, every day. And, of course, many people are trying to pitch filmmakers on an old barn or picturesque house as set possibilities. Here are a few groups that can help guide you through this growing, and ever-changing, Georgia industry.
Credit: Facebook
Credit: Facebook
With 31,500 members, it is considered one of the city’s largest film “communities,” with members that include industry newcomers and veterans.
“I started the page in 2014 as a place for people to collaborate on all levels, and it grew organically,” says Edward Reid II. “Many posts are for positions within the community for independent filmmakers since Atlanta has a huge indie scene. There are quite a few unusual posts, one just yesterday about ‘prophetic flow’ that lasted almost two hours. Other posts go at each other regarding former work.
Credit: Courtesy of Edward Reid II
Credit: Courtesy of Edward Reid II
“There are many people in jobs that one would not associate with film — especially now,” he adds. “Caterers and many hair stylists want to get into the industry, people wanting to rent their property because they think it will be lucrative, specialty cars, almost anything you can imagine, especially if people think they can make a profit now.”
Credit: Facebook
Credit: Facebook
“I was interested in taking over as administrator in 2015 because I wanted to help in building up the film community in Atlanta and Georgia,” Maryelle St. Clare says. “Not as just a cheaper filming location, but as a place that celebrated the creation of original content, whether that be small independent films and TV shows from people just entering the industry, to large network-backed multi-season TV shows and major feature films.
“I have tried to make this group somewhat different from many others in that it is pretty firmly moderated to keep out all spammers, scammers and irrelevant posts.”
Atlanta Film Community has 29,300 members.
“Our most frequently submitted posts are casting and crew calls. In general, principal speaking roles for studio-backed movies and established network or streaming video are cast through agents, not through posting casting calls on Facebook. In fact, sometimes scammers try to post speaking-role casting calls for major movies, and that’s the first sure sign they’re a scammer.
“We get a lot of posts asking: ‘How do I do such-and-such?’ For example, right now we have one up from someone asking how to make a (fake) heroin injection look like it’s really going into the actor’s arm. We’ve got a current casting call asking for real bagpipe players. We had a casting call a few years ago for a major TV show who needed someone to be a fully nude ‘streaker’ across a football field.”
Credit: Facebook
Credit: Facebook
Someone has to police this industry, which is relatively new and freewheeling in Georgia. “The AFIW is strictly for warning people in the film industry of unsafe or exploitative practices,” says founder Jason “Krowface” Thompson of his group, which has 6,400 members. “I started AFIW because when I began to transition from stage to screen, I fell victim to some unscrupulous filmmakers, and I wanted to create a resource to protect other people from the same situations.”
Such as? “I’m concerned with unsafe practices and exploitations. We’ve shared ‘Stop work’ orders from unions. We’ve shared stories of sexual harassment and instances of nonpayment. Sometimes it’s firsthand accounts; sometimes people out themselves when given the opportunity. It is strictly moderated. I get casting calls and requests for critiques (of videos and other work) all the time, and I don’t let any of that through.
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
“We let people tell their stories,” Thompson continues. “We get threats of lawsuits on the regular, but we’ve never gotten a cease and desist, because most threats of lawsuits are just that, threats. And most of the time when a predator says they’re hiring a lawyer, they don’t, because they find out from legal counsel they’re just going to get themselves in trouble. The results speak for themselves. We’ve saved a few people and have ended a few careers. At the end of the day, I know we’ve helped make filmmaking here in Atlanta at least a little safer.”
Other groups about Georgia film and TV production to check out include Base Camp ATL (14,300 members) and Indie Film Industry of Georgia (9,300 members).
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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