Georgia film, music & digital entertainment newsletter, Vol. 25, no. 1 (Winter 2009)

Film, Music & Digital Entertainment

Photo Credit: Sam Emerson Photo Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images 2009
Photo Credit: Quantrell Colbert

Volume 25, Number 1

Winter 2009

Get Low Gets Rolling!

Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail

Photo: (L-R) Lucas Black and Bill Murray

Filming recently wrapped on the independent feature Get Low starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek and Lucas Black. Shot in Georgia, the film was directed by Aaron Schneider. Chris Provenzano wrote the original screenplay that C. Gaby Mitchell reworked for the cast that also included Gerald McRaney and Bill Cobbs.
Set during the 1930s in rural America, Felix
Get Low... continued on page 3

Georgia's GRAMMY Winners

The 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards were held on Feb. 8, 2009, at

STAPLES Center in Los Angeles

and broadcasted live on CBS. This

year marked a record number

of GRAMMY nominations from

Georgia, with artists, writers,

producers and engineers earning

56 nominations.

Winners with Georgia connections

were: Ne-Yo for Best Male R&B

Vocal Performance and Best R&B

Song (Songwriters Award); Blind Boys of Alabama for Best Traditional Gospel Album and the Lifetime

Photo: (L-R) Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush

Achievement Award; Sugarland for Best Country Performance By

A Duo or Group with Vocals; Jennifer Nettles for Best Country

Song (Songwriters Award); T.I. for Best Rap Performance By A

Duo or Group; CeCe Winans for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel

Album and Steven Lance Ledbetter for Best Historical Album.

Photo: (L-R) Tyler Perry and Ion Overman
On February 20th Madea returned to the big screen in Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail. The film claimed the number one box office spot for the first two weeks of its run. By late March receipts were in excess of $89 million. Principal photography for the film took place over five weeks on location in and around Atlanta, including Tyler Perry Studios. The production spent one week shooting in an abandoned wing of a working prison.
Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail stars Perry, Derek Luke, David and Pamela Mann, Keshia Knight Pulliam and Ion Overman. Based on Perry's stage play, the movie is produced, written and directed by Perry. The film is produced by Reuben Cannon and also stars Ronreaco Lee, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Ferlito, Viola Davis, Robin Coleman and Bobbi Baker. Even Judge Mathis, the syndicated realitytelevision judge known for his stern, no-nonsense rulings, joins the cast to sentence Madea to anger management training and a lengthy jail term.
Tyler Perry... continued on page 2

The Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment newsletter is a publication of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.1
Articles can be mailed to Brenda Brayton, Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment, Post Office Box 1776, Atlanta, GA 30301, faxed to 404.962.4053 or sent electronically to bbrayton@georgia.org. Visit our website at www.georgia.org or call 877.746.6842.

Photo Credit:Quantrell Colbert Photo Credit: Mark Hill/Peachtree TV

Peachtree TV's Dreamland

From Ludacris to Lil' Jon, Atlanta has been the starting point for many musical careers. The six episode series from Peachtree TV Welcome to Dreamland features producers Jazze Pha and Drumma Boy competing to see who can develop the best act. The series that debuted in January, takes viewers behind-the-scenes as performers are put through an intense development process with producers, songwriters, stylists, designers and photographers. The winner gets the chance at stardom.
Welcome to Dreamland is the creation of recording artist Vawn and Jeff Wood of Yard Productions. Vawn executive-produced and hosted the series. The series was developed and executiveproduced by James DuBose and DuBose Entertainment. DuBose Entertainment www.duboseent.com is a multi-media company that creates and develops programming for network and cable television distribution.

Photo: (L-R) Drumma Boy, Vawn and Jazze Pha

2009 Atlanta Film Festival Celebrates

Photo: (L-R) Viola Davis and Derek Luke
Tyler Perry... continued from page 1
When it came to casting a doctor who could stand up to Madea, producer Cannon suggested that Perry approach television's clinical psychologist, Dr. Phil McGraw. Perry recalled dismissing the idea saying, "Dr. Phil's not gonna stop his show and come down to Atlanta to shoot this thing. Just hang it up, man." But Perry soon learned that Dr. Phil and his wife are both fans of his films, and weeks later Perry found himself improvising opposite the self-help guru. Perry said, "Just put the cameras on, roll and let us go. And off we went. And we went on and on and on. We could have filmed all day."
For more information on this film distributed by Lionsgate visit www.medeagoestojailmovie.com.

The 2009 Atlanta Film Festival opens on April 16th with the film The People Speak at The Rialto Center for the Arts and closes April 25th with the screening of Rudo y Cursi at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema. During ten days, over 150 films selected from the more than 1750 submitted for the festival will be screened. Festival partners including Turner Classic Movies, Atlanta Dogwood Festival and The Literary Center at the Margaret Mitchell House will bring films, coffeehouse conversations, parties and events to Midtown Atlanta.
This year the festival will celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Gone With the Wind Turner Classic Movies, The Literary Center at the Margaret Mitchell House and the Atlanta Film Festival are co-sponsoring a screening on Sunday, April 19th hosted by TCM's Robert Osborne at the Fox Theatre. Baltimore Sun critic Michael Sragow and Critic/Author Molly Haskell will also be in attendance for the weekend participating in various GWTW events.
Festival screenings will include locally produced I am the Bluebird;That Evening Sun featuring Hal Holbrook, Oscar Winner Ray McKinnon and Walt Goggins; Oscar nominated documentary The Garden and Moon featuring Sam Rockwell and directed by Duncan Jones. Visit www.atlantafilmfestival.com for screening times.
The Atlanta Film Festival is the largest and longestrunning film festival in the Southeast and one of only a few dozen Academy Award qualifying festivals in the world.

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Photo Credit: Michael Yada/A.M.P.A.S. Photo Credit: Sam Emerson

Photo: Steve Hyln
Hyln Receives Academy's Award
Georgia was on the mind of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Saturday, February 7. Steve Hyln, creator of SmARTlens Corporation's Hyln System, accepted the Academy's award for Technical Achievement at the 81st annual Scientific and Technical Academy Awards dinner and show.
"It is an honor to have a group such as the Sci/ Tech committee, which was appointed by the Board of

Governors of the Academy, understand the technology of the invention and the patents," Mr. Hyln said in Beverly Hills after the presentation."I am very proud that they have endorsed the technology and its future possibilities. The road has been long and is by no means over; but this endorsement by such an astute group of experienced professionals gives me hope for additional development and innovation for the Hyln System."
The award cited the groundbreaking nature of the Hyln System, a device that affixes to film and digital cameras to allow directors and cinematographers to produce visual effects within the camera instead of in post-production. SmARTlens Corporation's president and CEO Randall Abney noted that to the best of his knowledge the Hyln System is the first Technical Achievement Academy Award involving a Georgiabased company.
For more information about SmARTlens Corporation visit www.smartlens.com.

Overture Gets `CRAZY' In Georgia

Photo: (L-R) Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek
Get Low... continued from page 1
Bush, played by Robert Duvall, is a hermit who has sequestered himself on his mountain for over forty years. It's a shock to the local town when he comes riding in, shotgun in hand, and heads to the funeral parlor run by the greedy, fast-talking Frank Quinn, played by Bill Murray. Bush's intent: he wants to throw a funeral for himself while he is alive.
Produced by Dean Zanuck of The Zanuck Company, the key behind-the-scenes team included cinematographer David Boyd, production designer Geoffrey Kirkland and costume designer Julie Weiss. Shot in small towns outside of Atlanta, Georgia, the movie was financed by XS Strategies, Lara Enterprises and TVN. K5 International will handle foreign sales.

Shooting has begun in Perry, Georgia on Overture Film's The Crazies, a reinvention loosely based upon the George Romero classic about the inhabitants of a small Kansas town beset by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply.
Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell star with Danielle Panabaker and Joe Anderson rounding out the cast. Olyphant and Anderson play the town's sheriff and deputy while Mitchell plays a doctor at the town medical center where Panabaker is a receptionist.
Breck Eisner directs Ray Wright's screenplay, from an earlier draft by Scott Kosar. Overture Films is set to produce and distribute The Crazies with Participant Media co-financing.
The movie is produced by Michael Aguilar, Dean Georgaris and Rob Cowan with George Romero serving as executive producer. Maxime Alexandre is the DP; Andrew Menzies is the production designer; George Little is the costume designer; and Billy Fox is the film's editor.

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Photo Credit: Bravo/Virginia Sherwood

They're baaack!

On the heels of the most successful Real Housewives franchise launch ever, Bravo announced the renewal of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Production has officially begun on the series that follows the busy lives of everyone's favorite southern gals as they juggle their careers, children and jam-packed social calendars.
"The level of engagement on Atlanta far surpasses a typical series on cable or broadcast, with our viewers deepening their connection to the show through live wireless chats, daily blogs and additional footage online," said Frances Berwick, executive vice president and general manager, Bravo. "This, along with the colorful personalities of our housewives, helped drive the series to a water cooler sensation."
Returning for a second season of drama are housewives Kim Zolciak, Lisa Wu Hartwell, NeNe Leakes and Sheree Whitfield. This year The Real Housewives of Atlanta will add a new housewife into the mix, GRAMMY Award-winning singer/songwriter Kandi Burruss.
The series is produced by True Entertainment for Bravo. Steven Weinstock, Glenda Hersh, Matt Anderson, Lauren Eskelin and Marci Mule serve as executive producers.

Photo: The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Hardest Hitter in Preproduction
Producer Terry Collis and producer/director Carmine Zozzora will team up for their fifth movie together this spring. The film, entitled The Hardest Hitter, will focus on the true story of Ricky Hill, a man who overcame a degenerative spinal disease to end up playing for the Montreal Expos. The film is an inspiring tale of the American Dream come true for one young man.
Luther Williams Field near downtown Macon, Georgia, will serve as the key setting for the film. Other locations for shooting will be scattered throughout the Macon area. The producers are excited about hiring local crew and cast members for the film. For more information, e-mail thehardesthitter@gmail.com

Free Rent for Game Development Companies

The Creative Coast Alliance (TCCa) and the Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA) are offering up to one year of free rent in their Game Development and Digital Media Center. Currently under development on the first floor of their newly constructed Class A office building on the Savannah River, the facility will give digital media companies a competitive edge when coupled with Savannah's quality of life and lower cost of living and doing business.
"Savannah has what game development companies need in talent, tech and quality of life," said Brenda Brathwaite, game designer and chair of the Interactive Design and Game Department at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Brathwaite also serves on the board of the International Game Developers Association.
The region boasts 17 regional colleges and universities, with enrollment exceeding 50,000

students. It is the birthplace of SCAD and home to a campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology which offers programs for Computer Engineering. SCAD offers interdisciplinary majors for undergraduate and graduate students in game design and development. Both were included by US News and World Report as "America's Best Colleges" and listed in the top 10 schools in the world favored by game industry recruiters as reported by the LA Times.
Interactive entertainment and video game development companies are eligible to receive a 30 % tax credit on qualified Georgia expenditures. Details on tax credits can be provided by Asante Bradford, digital entertainment liaison for the state's Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Division. Bradford can be reached at abradford@georgia.org or 404.962.4056. For information about the Game Development & Digital Media Center, please visit: www.theoffer.thecreativecoast.org.

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Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Television/Quantrell Colbert Photo Credit: Andrew Tucker/UGA

Ben 10 Shoots in Atlanta

Photo: Julia Ormond
Lifetime's Wronged Man Wraps
Actress Julia Ormond headlines The Wronged Man, a story of justice and redemption premiering on Lifetime Movie Network. The movie recently wrapped in Georgia and is scheduled to air at the end of the year.
Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Ormond's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button co-star, joins the cast as an African-American husband and father convicted of raping a young girl. The film is based on the true story of an unlikely friendship between paralegal Janet Gregory (Ormond) and Calvin Willis (Ali) as they fight to overturn his sentence and restore faith in the justice system.
The Wronged Man is produced by Valhalla Motion Pictures and Sony Pictures Television for Lifetime Movie Network. The movie was executive produced by Gale Anne Hurd, co-executive produced by Gary Ventimiglia, with Tom McLoughlin directing the teleplay by Teena Booth.

Cartoon Network is in post-production on Ben 10: Alien Swarm an all-new, live-action movie based on the animated series Ben 10: Alien Force. Principal photography has wrapped in Atlanta, Georgia and the original movie will premiere on the network in fall 2009.
Alex Winter returned to direct and executive-produce the latest installment in the Ben 10 franchise from a script penned by screenwriter John Turman. Winter directed Cartoon Network's first Ben 10 live-action movie, Ben 10: Race Against Time, which scored over 13 million viewers during its Thanksgiving weekend premiere in 2007.
Ben 10: Alien Swarm follows teenage hero Ben Tennyson as he breaks ranks from the Plumbers (a secret organization that battles alien forces) to help Elena, a mysterious young woman, uncover an alien threat to our world.
Ryan Kelley stars in the coveted role of 15-year-old Ben Tennyson. Ben 10's cast includes Barry Corbin, Galadriel Stineman, Nathan Keyes and Alyssa Diaz.

Redding.. continued from back cover
Athens-Clarke County Mayor Heidi Davison presented a proclamation to Redding's family declaring Feb. 17 "Otis Redding Day" in Athens, and other presentations commemorating Redding's career were made by Michele Rhea Caplinger of the Atlanta Chapter of the Recording Academy and Clay Bradley of BMI. Lisa Love, the director of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame presented a plaque to WUGA during the ceremony to commemorate the historic recording.
Photo: (L-R) Jimmy Hall, T. Graham Brown and Randall Bramblett
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Photo Credit: Ben Rose/BET Networks

Magick Lantern Helps Cartoon Network LA Win 2 Major Awards

Magick Lantern helped its client, Cartoon Network Latin America win a Gold World Medal at the New York Festivals 2009 Television Programming and Promotion Awards and a Bronze Promax Latin America award at the Promax/BDA conference held in Los Angeles. These international awards acknowledge creative work by industry professionals in broadcast promotion and design.
Magick's senior editor/compositor James Powell worked in Magick's Avid DS Nitris suite with Cartoon Network LA producer Daniel Xavier and creative director Hernan LaGreca to win the awards for Grim's Fate. This promo was created to spotlight new episodes of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, one of CNLA's most successful shows. As an eternal slave of Billy and Mandy, Grim tries, through all means, to put an end to his suffering. But as he is an immortal creature, he cannot succeed. The promo uses a classic scene from Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray as a reference.

Photo: (L-R) BeBe Winans, Kirk Franklin, Tina Campbell and Erica Campbell
Sunday Best Shoots in Atlanta

Black Entertainment Television's (BET) Sunday Best returned for its second season on Sunday, March 8 with host Kirk Franklin and judges Erica and Tina Campbell of Mary Mary and BeBe Winans back together to find America's next great gospel singer. Shot in its new home at Turner Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, season two of the gospel singing competition treats viewers to musical performances by Sunday Best hopefuls along with candid feedback from judges and surprise visits from celebrity guests.
During last season's finale, 1.7 million viewers tuned in as Crystal Aikin, a nurse from Tacoma, Washington, won BET's gospel singing competition and took home a national recording contract, a new vehicle, a prize package for her community and the title of Sunday Best.
Sunday Best is executive produced by D'Angela Proctor Steed and Nia T. Hill of Strange Fruit Films, Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, BeBe Winans as well as Brian Gadinsky and Arnold M. Preston of The G Group, and co-executive produced by Marilyn Gill. For more on Sunday Best, please visit www.BET.com/sundaybest .

Photo: Grim's Fate
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Stars Converge At GDX 2009
The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) will host the fifth annual Game Developers eXchange April 16 17 in Savannah, Georgia. The two-day event brings together game developers, educators and students with experts to share their behind-the-scenes knowledge of the game industry. GDX 2009 features four areas of interest in game development: game art, game design, level design and audio. More than 20 industry professionals will be on-hand to share their expertise and knowledge.
"We bring together the industry's brightest stars to an intimate setting where they can exchange ideas with each other and a broad cross-section of students, academicians and fans," said Brenda Brathwaite, SCAD professor, game designer and chair of the interactive design and game development program.
Clint Hocking, design director of Ubisoft, and George "Fat Man" Sanger of Team Fat join Jason Rohrer as keynoters for the event. Other speakers include Andrew Bains, senior level designer of the "Gears of War" series from Epic Games; Jason Arnone, art manager at Harmonix; Richard Dansky of Red Storm Entertainment; Susanne Meiler of Destineer Studios and Mark Nelson of Big Huge Games. Please visit www.scad.edu/gdx or call 912.525.5218 for more information.

Photo Credit: Jeremy Freeman/Peachtree TV

Dru Hill Faces the Music

In a roomy mansion nestled in the suburbs of Atlanta, R&B singer-

songwriter-producer Keith Sweat gives

the once mega-hot R&B group Dru Hill

the chance for a comeback. But first,

the group must spend 30 days holed

up in the house together to work on

music and resolving differences that

have prevented them from recording a

new album since 2002.

Dru Hill's month-long experience is

the focus of Peachtree TV's brand new

original program Keith Sweat's Platinum House, hosted and executive-produced Photo: (L-R) Keith Sweat and Dru Hill

by Keith Sweat. The one-hour special premiered on February 23, 2009.
Keith Sweat's Platinum House comes to Peachtree TV from KEIA Productions, Inc. and B2

Tracey Baker-Simmons and Wanda Shelley of B2 Entertainment Studios and is executive-producing the series.

Entertainment Studios, LLC. Sweat is joined by

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Photo Credit: Andrew Tucker/UGA

Film, Music & Digital Entertainment

Photo: (L-R) Karla Redding-Andrews and Zelma Redding
Otis Redding Tribute at UGA
On February 17th, the University of Georgia paid tribute to Otis Redding, the Georgia-born singer and songwriter at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, where the WUGA studios are located. In the early 1960s Redding made one of his earliest recordings "Shout Bamalama" in those same studios, while touring with Johnny Jenkins and The Pinetoppers.
"'Shout Bamalama' displays the raw talent that Otis Redding was able to develop in such a short period of time to become a musical icon," said Bruce Burch, director of the UGA Music Business Program. "We want to celebrate the small, but essential, role that Athens and UGA played in Redding's legendary career."
The two-hour tribute featured performances by Randall Bramblett, T. Graham Brown, John Berry, Bryan Howard, and Jimmy Hall, formerly of Wet Willie. Redding's wife Zelma and daughter Karla participated in a question-and-answer session, with WUGA-FM program director Robb Holmes, UGA student Jordan Stepp and Burch posing the questions.
Redding... continued on page 5

Call for Entries
The Savannah Film Festival is accepting entries for the 2009 festival, to be held Oct. 31-Nov. 7. The annual festival hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) features a full range of cinematic creativity from both award-winning professionals and emerging student filmmakers. Features, documentaries, professional and student shorts, both live action and animated, will be considered. All entries must be postmarked by July 6.
The Savannah Film Festival regularly screens award-winning films before their national release dates at the restored Trustees Theater, a 1946 cinema house, and the Lucas Theatre for the Arts, a former Vaudeville venue. Films screened at the festival have come from Scotland, the UK, Vietnam, Australia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Israel, China, Germany, Canada, the United States and Ecuador, and special guests in attendance have included Malcolm McDowell, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Peter O'Toole, Kathleen Turner, Danny Glover, Milos Forman and Alec Baldwin.
For information about the festival and film entries, contact the SCAD box office at 912.525.5050 or visit www.scad.edu/filmfest.

Disabled individuals requiring assistance with this information should contact: ADA Coordinator - GDEcD / P. O. Box 1776, Atlanta, GA 30301-1776 TL: 404.962.4052 / FX: 404.962.4053 / TDD: 1.877.255.6842

Georgia Department of Economic Development Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Post Office Box 1776 Atlanta, Georgia 30301-1776

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