Augusta is filled with creative people – artists, musicians, novelists and filmmakers – all trying to tell their stories through their preferred form of media.
While there have been some big-name movies shot in the area, such as “The Mule” in 2018, and “The Suicide Squad” in 2019, many of the films have smaller budgets and lesser-known names.
Behind the scenes, there are Augusta area professionals who help make the film magic on a regular basis and help bring smaller budget films to the area.
One of Augusta’s assets is IndieGrip in south Augusta.
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The former KrispyKreme location on Gordon Highway is bigger than it looks from the front.
Barbara Zagrodnik recently used the studio space in the back of the building to film a trailer for a film series she wants to create on a Marine Corps hero.
Zagrodnik said IndieGrip is a great place for indie filmmakers. It has dressing room space and an area for actors to do hair and makeup. Plus, there’s a green room, which can be used for meeting.
Mark Crump, who produced the film “The Swing of Things” and served on location management for “The Suicide Squad,” said IndieGrip is great for films with smaller budgets.
“They have a lot of equipment needed to make films,” he said.
With big budget films, companies will swing into town in semis with their own equipment and people to operate it, but smaller companies rent the equipment and often hire local people to operate it.
Crump has worked on a lot of films shot in the area, and he’s worked with technical and artistic people behind the scenes.
Last year, he worked on an indie film called “Awaken,” a mystery/horror flick.
“Seventy-five to 80 percent of that film was locally staffed,” he said.
Films such as “Tulsa,” which was shot almost entirely in Augusta in 2019, also used a lot of local people and locations. Scott Pryor and Gloria Stella, who produced the film, are from Atlanta, but they used local professionals as well as equipment from IndieGrip.
When talking with moviemakers who look into Augusta for filming locations, Jennifer Bowen, film liaison for Film Augusta, said she touts Augusta’s film workforce.
“Small companies want to hire local film professionals,” she said. “Equipment companies such as IndieGrip are an asset to us.”
Over the past few years, Crump has been cultivating technical crew in the film industry. Some have since left the area to work on bigger projects. He said three people he’s trained have moved to Atlanta to work on big network projects.
His and Bowen’s hope is that more projects will be heading to Augusta soon.
“We hope film comes back. Given the level of inquiry we’ve been receiving, we hope it will,” Bowen said.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
See the second in this series of stories about the film industry in Augusta here:
https://theaugustapress.com/film-augusta-leader-is-optimistic-for-2021/
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