MEDIA CONTACT: BARBARA RYAN, 912-729-1103, barbara@stormersmarketing.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…
COASTAL GEORGIA FILM ALLIANCE HOSTS VALDOSTA FILM GROUP
ST. MARYS, GA—When filmmaker Roy Kirkland read an article in the Valdosta Daily Times about a private group in South Georgia that has been instrumental in bringing film and TV projects to their community, he knew he had discovered a resource that might help him launch a similar organization in Valdosta.
Kirkland and his team traveled to St. Marys on May 1 to meet with Coastal Georgia Film Alliance (CGFA) organizers to see how they got their start. He was not disappointed.
“We’re so glad we made the trip,” Kirkland said. “As filmmakers, we are grateful and appreciative of others who are working so hard and share a passion in stage and film. Even though we have been filmmakers for many years, we left with even more knowledge of the film industry than we thought possible.”
Kirkland’s company, DSP Movies, has produced several films but has not been successful in getting the powers to be to create a formal organization to pilot the effort to bring film work to Valdosta. Kirkland’s current project, a reality show about filmmaking, will include clips from his interviews with CGFA officials Doug Vaught, Chair, and Barbara Ryan, Vice Chair.
“We look forward to sharing the enthusiasm and wonderful friendship of the Coastal Georgia Film Alliance people in our reality show pilot,” Kirkland continued.
Vaught and Ryan discussed with Kirkland’s group how the CGFA was founded and funded by private individuals as a way to spur the economy of Coastal Georgia. They shared with Kirkland the process of creating a board, registering a corporation, and setting up a 501c3, and most important—how to market to the film industry once a formal organization is established.
CGFA chair Doug Vaught said Valdosta is not the only community interested in capitalizing on Georgia’s popularity with the film industry. Vaught, Ryan, and fellow board member L. J. Williams will be in Liberty and McIntosh Counties in the next few days to formalize alliances with those communities as well.
“Any filmmaking in Coastal Georgia adds to our marketing successes as more and more film makers discover all that our area has to offer,” Vaught said. “We are fortunate to have a film friendly community and business leaders and residents who embrace the film projects that come to fruition.”
For more information about Coastal Georgia Film Alliance, visit www.coastalgeorgiafilm.org, or call 912-729-1103.
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