Columbus filmmakers face financial obstacles starting projects. Can these grants help?
Editor’s note: This is part two of a three-part series on the film industry in Columbus. The next installment will explore how Columbus is developing its workforce and bringing back productions after labor strikes.
While large productions filming in Georgia qualify for various incentives on the state and local levels, small companies in Columbus face challenges as officials hope new grants will help stimulate the industry locally.
Caleb Money co-founded Village Film at the end of 2022 in Columbus. As a small company based locally, Money feels he has difficulty garnering support for small projects and encouraging film production within the city.
Village Film has done nonprofit and commercial work, Money told the Ledger-Enquirer, but recently began more narrative and documentary film-making.
“We’re working on a documentary right now about the gang violence in Columbus,” he said.
Local filmmakers don’t typically have large budgets, Money said, which means they are not eligible for some incentives available to larger projects.
Last summer, Village Film began raising money to fund the documentary about gang violence. The organization approached the film commission and asked if they qualified for some financial support, but they were disappointed.
The company learned that, because its budget was less than $5 million, there wasn’t much substantial help the film commission could offer. It was a wake-up call, Money said.
“You’re not going to find hardly any productions locally that are above $5 million, whether it’s features, documentaries or anything,” he said. “The industry isn’t on that level yet.”
Investing in Columbus-made films
The Columbus Film Fund created the Local Filmmakers Grant Program to address some of the challenges that face filmmakers and local companies like Village Film.
This program would help certain filmmakers that wouldn’t qualify for other programs because of certain requirements, film commissioner Joel Slocumb told the Ledger-Enquirer. This includes first-time filmmakers and college students, he said.
The Local Filmmakers Grant Program is aimed at providing a funding resource to Muscogee County-based creators with grants of $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000, according to a news release.
Grants will be distributed to support projects at various stages from pre-production to post-production, and the deadline for filmmakers to apply is Oct. 15.
“We feel the grant program is another way for workforce development and to help with creating an environment for sustainable production,” Slocumb said.
Despite the challenges, Money understands that because Village Film is somewhat new, it has to prove itself capable of producing quality films. But this fact shouldn’t be holding Columbus filmmakers back from gaining the catalog or experience, he said.
Money believes regular meetings between local filmmakers and the film commission could help address some of the problems he has experienced. This is a sentiment echoed by Slocumb.
Local people in the industry should stay involved, attend local meetings and meetings offered throughout Georgia, Slocumb said.
“Getting those projects made and distributed can lead to other things and opportunities,” he said.
Thinking creatively about video production
Marc Womack, owner of the Columbus-based media production company Sub7, has been in the business for almost 25 years.
His company operates a little differently than other Columbus-based companies like Village Film because most of Sub7’s work is national and international.
Sub7 focuses on outdoor adventure film-making, including cable television shows, short films and marketing for companies.
Although the company is based in Columbus, most of its work is national and international, Womack said, which gives him a different perspective on operating a production company out of Columbus.
It’s important to educate people that they don’t have to do feature films to be in film production, he said. It’s important to be creative and adapt as the medium changes.
“Ten years ago, our company was based off of cable networks,” Womack said. “And now with the fall of cable networks to Netflix and social media, people are gathering their content now in a lot of different places.”
The content is the same, but people are receiving it differently, he said.
Womack believes amid the many directions people can take in video production, there are few barriers to people in Columbus creating video content for marketing.
“There’s a lot of big corporations here,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to be done here. That’s not what (Sub7) has gone after for the most part, but I don’t think there’s anything stopping people from doing that from a local film perspective.”
As officials work to meet its goal of becoming a third film hub, after Atlanta and Savannah, Money believes supporting small production companies will help strengthen a weakness in the industry in Columbus: workforce development.
Students interested in the film industry who are graduating from Columbus State University would benefit from a robust local production scene, he said, where they would gain experience.
“We’re always trying to raise people up in Columbus who have some experience and maybe want to learn more,” Money said. “Some people have never had the opportunity to be on a film set.”
Video production is a growing industry in Columbus, Womack said. But to take it to the next level will require more homegrown projects.
This means the pre-production, writing, filming and post-production is done in Columbus.
“That wraps everything into a bundle that then the economic multiplier takes effect because these people are working here,” he said. “They’re salary jobs. They’re day rate jobs that are consistent.”
