Georgia spent $2.6 billion on film and television production last year, according to the Georgia Film Office.
One of the most recent additions to the state’s film portfolio is All Is Merry & Bright. The family comedy movie follows protagonist Jessica, who tries to be a supermom while dealing with the chaos the holiday season brings.
One of the producers, Shun Lee Fong, says they chose to film in Stone Mountain, Decatur and Tucker because of the talent pool here in Georgia.
“As we were looking at our various options for where we were going to shoot this, we kept coming back to Atlanta," Fong said. "It kept coming back. You know what? There's all these people we know there.”
Fong is also the president and creative director of The Greenhouse Arts & Media, a nonprofit based in Los Angeles with a chapter in Atlanta.
“We were using a lot of the people from The Greenhouse community… and said let's come together. Let's make this beautiful film together, and we hope to do many more projects like that in the future," Fong said.
Fong says about 550 people were hired to work on the film.
“Which means we're providing 550 jobs to people in this industry. We take that really seriously," Fong said.
Since it is an independent film, All Is Merry & Bright only has confirmed showtimes in Athens for about a week. Though, more dates could be released depending on the success of the opening weekend. For more information, visit merryandbright.movie.