Residents Asked To Help Identify Potential Movie Filming Sites

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Staged plane crashes. Prop phone booths. Cars from the 1950’s. Not to mention Michael Keaton and Tom Cruise.

These are all examples of the excitement that the film industry brought when they chose to film in Cherokee County this spring. Our county has been a hot spot for Hollywood in 2015 and the community is loving it.

According to an online poll hosted by The Cherokee Ledger-News asking if the community would like to see Cherokee grow as a filming destination, over 84 percent of respondents said yes.

“These projects have attracted audiences to our cities, people who normally wouldn’t have visited,” said Misti Martin, Cherokee Office of Economic Development president. “The cast and crews shopped in our stores, ate locally and many stayed in our hotels. The economic impact is evident, just in the businesses testimonials alone.”

In a post shared on its Facebook page during the filming of “The Founder” in downtown Canton, B.loved wrote they “got to meet the assistant to the director, on set script writer, prop director and one paparazzi all while shopping at B.loved!”

Now coined “Y’allywood,” the Peach State is seeing projects from the biggest names in the business. Filming in Georgia is a $5.1 billion industry. Location managers and film scouts have set their sights on Georgia because of the diverse landscape, undeniable history and appealing tax credits. There are not many states that you can start the day filming in the mountains and be shooting a scene at the beach by dinner time.

COED has worked as the Camera Ready liaisons for Cherokee County since 2011, identifying unique properties for Georgia’s statewide film locations database Reel Scout, building relationships with scouts and facilitating a Camera Ready committee of community leaders.

“Film is one of COED’s target industry sectors,” said COED Chairman Marshall Day. ”When a project chooses Cherokee, it generates income for local business and increases awareness of our incredible county.”

So, how can Cherokee County continue to attract scouts and producers to consider filming inside its borders? And how can the community help?

The Cherokee Office of Economic Development is seeking the help of Cherokee County residence to identify potential filming locations that may catch the eye of the next big movie or television project. Do you know of a house that looks haunted or a valley that looks like a fairytale scene when the light hits it the right way?

Think outside the box when considering locations. Scouts look for everything from old convenient stores to grand mansions or, in the case of “Mena,” an entire city. A scout for “Mena” found the city of Ball Ground through the Reel Scout database, a testament to how the Camera Ready program works.

If you are interested in COED adding your property the Camera Ready Reel Scout database, email cameraready@cherokeega.org with the subject line “Camera Ready Location” and include a picture and short description of your property.

COED will respond with the next steps to take.

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Photo credit: Cherokee Office of Economic Development