Creative-heavy Athens, Georgia, with a population of just under 128,000 residents, can claim itself as the hometown of many in entertainment. They range from actors, producers, artists, writers, musicians, rock bands (R.E.M, The B-52’s), athletes and the list goes on, exhaustively.

The University of Georgia (UGA) is there too, and the institution by itself is a prime gathering ground for creative souls, present and past. Samuel L. Jackson. Kim Basinger. Titus Burgess. Maria Taylor. Lewis Grizzard. Quavo. Michael Stipe. And these heavyweight talents are joined by countless more, all of them onetime students at UGA.

The volume of creative entertainment industry players in Athens is only one reason why the city is the first stop on Georgia Entertainment News’ first nine-city Georgia Unscripted roadshow, to be held June 22, 2023, at Tweed Recording, a training ground for students building careers making music and content for film, TV and other media. (RSVP for the Athens event here.)

In Athens, as in each city it visits in the state, the Georgia Unscripted roadshow will bring together business executives, government officials and elected leaders to talk about Georgia’s creative economy, the impact film, TV, music, digital production and gaming are having on the region, and how to bolster it even further moving forward—especially as other U.S. states attempt to replicate the Peach State’s model for entertainment industry success.

In Georgia, however, as witnessed in the moves that Athens is making now, the state is ahead of the pack—with the processes, infrastructure and talent in place to further its lead.

A stand-out example of Georgia’s film industry ingenuity and tenacity is Athens’ new Athena Studios, a sound stage development with bleeding-edge technology that serves up 200,000 square feet of purpose-built space for film and TV production—with another 150,000 square feet to come in subsequent phases. A spacious backlot and ample production offices are also part of the $60-million studio complex, owned by Athens native Joel Harber. Harber is president of Reynolds Capital, a locally based commercial real estate development company, and he also serves as CEO of Athena Studios.

In addition to Athena Studios, Athens holds natural appeal as a film location, one with a smaller-town vibe packed with big-city amenities. Examples include the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, the Georgia Museum of Art, UGA’s Sanford Stadium, Memorial Park and Bear Hollow Zoo, and a wealth of other parks, trails, a nature center and the Oconee Rivers Greenway for fishing, kayaking, hiking, and other outdoor exploration.

Making Athens even more of a film-related destination within the state, UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications offers a two-year, six-semester academic film program for a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in film, television and digital media. Students begin their studies on-campus at UGA, get hands-on training and internships at Athena Studios, and finish up with additional training at the Georgia Film Academy in Atlanta.

In addition, UGA’s state-of-the-art Hugh Hodgson School of Music offers a wealth of different undergraduate and graduate-level degree programs—including areas of emphasis such as jazz, composition and theory, conducting, percussion, music education and music therapy. The school’s Performing Arts Center pulls in world-renowned musical performers, among them Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Itzhak Perlman, and legions of international orchestras.

While film and television are a major part of what’s driving Athens’ creative ethos in 2023, the industry has actually touched the city for years. In the early 1980s, TV series Breaking Away, starring Barbara Barrie, Shaun Cassidy and Vincent Gardenia was shot in Athens. Throughout the early and mid 2000s, many more films and TV series—2000’s Road Trip, 2012’s Trouble With the Curve, and 2015’s A Walk in the Woods starring Robert Redford—were lensed in Athens, the latest being 2022 film Ragged Heart, directed by Evan McNary.

RSVP Here: https://www.georgiaentertainmentnews.com/gen-event-rsvp/