Michael Coles, newly appointed Chairman of the Georgia Film Commission Board addressed the crowd of one hundred and thirty-five people attending the Georgia Production Partnership’s first event at Manuel’s Tavern. Chairman Coles expressed his impassioned love for Georgia and the movies which motivated him to pursue the chairmanship of the board, a link between the Georgia Film & Videotape Office and Governor Roy Barnes’ office. At the top of his platform... increasing funding for the Film & Videotape Office which he praised for doing a great job with the modest budget it has been afforded.

At the following lunch meeting, Thomas Busch, Executive Producer for Artisan Entertainment’s “The Substitute 4,” spoke about how positive his experience was while filming in the state. The decision to film in the state of peaches was based on the depth of the crew base for local hires and on local unions’ cooperation. Busch advised the listeners to promote more growth by building the talent pool from film schools and independent filmmakers in conjunction with eliciting more indigenous production.

Senator Connie Stokes, Chair of the Business Development Committee for the Georgia Film & Advisory Commission most recently spoke to the GPP. She suggested submitting a proposal for an incentives package to Governor Barnes to keep Georgia in the line of competition with other states. The film commission board is in the process of examining other states to find out the extent of incentive packages offered to filmmakers there.