James July-August 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 57
Georgia may be the “Hollywood of the
South” when it comes to sound stages,
filming locations and film tax incentives, but there remain areas where the
state’s film industry lags behind the
Hollywood of... California.
One of those is in educating a
new generation of young professionals ready to enter the highly specific
and technical industry. This is an area
where California has a generational
edge in the form of its lauded film
schools— namely the American Film
Institute, the University of Southern
California and UCLA— boasting legendary alumni from George Lucas to
Francis Ford Coppola.
The Peach State’s answer? Look
no further than Savannah College of
Art and Design, founded in 1978 on
the premise that certain arts degrees
and programs were not being offered
in the Southeast. Film has always been
SCAD’s point of emphasis, offering both
undergraduate and graduate degrees
through its School of Film and Acting—
with programs ranging from filming
and acting to writing and production
design. More than 9,000 SCAD students
and alumni work in the industry’s many
fields, with over 2,800 in Georgia alone.
As the film industry in Georgia
has ramped up over the past 15 years,
SCAD has grown along with it. Consider that it is named among The Hollywood Reporter’s “Top 25 American Film
Schools,” the only university selected
in all five of its academic program
rankings. But the school’s sights are
set even higher.
What’s more ‘Hollywood’ than the
classic Hollywood backlot? SCAD’s
expansive new 11-acre, three-phase
expansion project at its Savannah Film
Studios will create the largest film
studio complex at any university in the
country. Phase one’s 4,500 sq. ft. of set
space is designed to look like Savannah’s historic streetscape, split into 17
facades that include houses, shops,
a bank, a pub and lobby that can be
used as a hotel or hospital.
Phase two, set to open later this
year, is modeled after the New York
financial district, giving students
an entire new playground featuring
Brooklyn brownstones, alleyways, a
bodega and a subway entrance. If that
wasn’t enough, Phase three, coming
Fall 2025, will add a town square, city
hall, single-family home and more.
Included in those expansions are
also production classrooms, additional sound stages, office space and
an LED volume (think of a hyper-advanced green screen used to create
CGI backgrounds).
“Georgia is the new Hollywood
and Savannah’s film industry is
booming,” says SCAD School of Film
and Acting Dean Andra Reeve-Rabb.
“When we designed the backlot we
wanted to give our students access
to all the filming locations they either
cannot access, like a hospital emergency room, or common filming locations
like a coffee shop, without requesting
permits or competing for space with
the studios who are filming in Savannah. Plus, one of the reasons Savannah
is such an attractive filming location is
it can easily resemble a quaint European town and be dressed for the 1800s
or modern day.”
SCAD also opened its Atlanta Casting Office last fall, adding to its Savannah office and bolstering its reputation
as the only university nationwide
that offers a casting minor. Through
internships with major networks and
partnership with casting directors,
the program offers hands-on training
that gives students an unparalleled
leg up in the competitive field. It also
provides quite a benefit to the school’s
many acting students, with the Savannah office casting more than 700
students and alumni last year alone.
Often overlooked for its importance
in the industry, casting received a
long-overdue nod when the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
announced earlier this year that in 2026
it will add a new Oscar category for
“achievement in casting,” the first new
category at the award show since 2001.
Last year 158 alumni and current
students contributed to 17 films nominated for the or the 96th Academy
Awards, among them global blockbusters Barbie, Elemental, and Oppenheimer. Expect SCAD’s (now) two
professionally run casting offices to
get in on that action when the Oscars
expand in 2026 and beyond.
“More is more: more films being
made, more stories being told, more
students creating films under the
guidance of the very best professors in
higher education,” says SCAD President
and founder Paula Wallace. “If you have
a story you want to tell on a screen, big
or small, you can tell it at SCAD.”
Patrick Hickey is the James office/circulation
director and a staff writer.
J U LY/AU G UST 2 0 2 4
57
