Franks, Mullis seek movie sites

ROCK SPRING, Ga. — Northwest Georgia leaders are asking the public to help identify potential sites for movies and hope to have a rough catalog of sites by the end of the year.

In August, Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, announced that Ringgold City Councilman Randall Franks would head up effort to inventory buildings, land and other locations where Hollywood film crews could aim their lenses to bring money and fame to the area.

“We think that could be a niche we could use,” said Sen. Mullis.

He called movie shoots “great economic opportunities” because when crews come into an area, they eat, sleep, shoot and leave, spending money without using many services.

And if a movie draws a big following, fans sometimes flock to the locations where scenes are set, the way many “Twilight” fans travel to Forks, Wash., where the story is set. The residual tourism dollars can also boost the local economy, Sen. Mullis said.

At the Northwest Georgia Development Authority meeting last week, Sen. Mullis, who heads the panel, said he hoped some form of the catalog could be completed by the end of the year.

Both he and Mr. Franks encouraged people who know of sites to contact their local chambers of commerce.

“The biggest thing we need to do is to get it together so (the sites) can be ready to go,” said Chattooga County Commissioner Jason Winters, who also was at the meeting.

Mr. Franks, who played a police officer in the TV series “In the Heat of the Night,” said directors are always looking for sites, from pristine period buildings to rundown barns. He suggested residents send in any sites that strongly reflect a certain period of time, whether that may be the 1890s or the 1990s.

“Oftentimes, the old and dilapidated is exactly what the movie director is looking for because it has character,” he said.