ATLANTA — After writers and actor strikes several years ago, many in the film industry were looking forward to 2025 as “The Year of Promise.”
But no one could have predicted the devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area that has put many productions nationwide on hold.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes spoke with Rob Gomes who has been a TV producer in Atlanta for the last 15 years. He says for most of that time, things were booming until the strikes started rolling in several years ago.
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“The writers strike affected everybody, even unscripted. And then after the writers strike, it was the mergers; all the streamers merging and buying each other out, then that got really dicey. Then the layoffs and then budget cuts that came with it, then the production cuts,” Gomes described.
Cardellia Hunter moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta in 2013 to be the director of Atlanta’s Film, Entertainment and Nightlife. All permitting and planning goes through her hands to the mayor’s office.
She said since all TV and film decisions come from LA before they’re greenlit, multiple projects in Atlanta will be delayed.
“I don’t know how much of an impact it has been thus far – by it just being so fresh off the cusp. We know things will kinda slow down for a minute so everyone back home – because that’s where I’m from – can get their bearings together,” Hunter said.
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“They’re gonna be prioritizing surviving versus greenlighting projects,” Gomes said.
The Georgia Film Office says there are currently 16 projects being filmed across the Peach State.
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