A spy film shot in the Augusta area provided a boost to the local economy.
“I’m confident in saying it was about $1 million, give or take,” said Jennifer Bowen, film liaison for Film Augusta, about the economic impact of the filming of “Agent Game.”
It will be a couple of weeks before she has a more precise number. She said she would have to consult with production manager Mark Crump to gain a full understanding and tally the figure. The production spent about a month in the Augusta area, filming on location in Thomson and in Columbia County as well.
While many of the people who created and produced the film were from out of town, a lot of local people worked on it. Augusta has a wide community of technical and creative people who are in tune with filmmaking and have the skills needed on a set.
“There were local resources in every department,” said Tyler Konney, who wrote and produced the film.
Augusta-area residents filled positions in the art department, hair and make-up, sound mixing and production management among others. Equipment was rented to use on site. Actors and crew ate some meals on set. While the caterer wasn’t local, the food came from area retailers, Bowen said.
Not only were local people paid to work on the set, film dollars made it into other parts of the community.
Some of the out-of-town guests stayed in area hotels. Mel Gibson stayed at the Partridge Inn while he was in town. Other actors used Airbnb. Dermot Mulroney said he stayed in a house in the Harrisburg area.
Director Grant S. Johnson stayed in downtown Augusta and was impressed with the Southern hospitality he experienced. He ate at several restaurants in the area during his stay, some of them more than once.
“They knew me on a first-name basis,” he said. “I’m from New York, and I’ve been some places hundreds of times, and they don’t know me. This has been a very good place to us.”
Actors rented cars while they were in town, and Mulroney and Jason Isaacs spent a lot of time on the links in North Augusta before shooting their scenes.
Bowen said the ripple effect will continue once the film is released.
Some scenes were shot in Recteq’s warehouse in Evans and boxes with product labels may wind up in film shots and could result in sales or at the very least brand recognition, she said.
Others benefiting from the film were “road safety companies, the sheriff’s department, the fire department, fire marshals, local security companies,” she said.
As production wrapped, Bowen and her team interviewed multiple principals in the film in hopes of using their testimonials to encourage other filmmakers to think about Augusta when filming their movies.
“This is all because the state of Georgia has made an investment in film and allowed other cities like Augusta to grow,” she said.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
