Atlanta Daily World

International Film Company to Bring $90 Million Studio to Georgia, Create 1,200 Jobs

A global film studio has signed a memorandum of understanding to build a $90 million movie studio in Effingham County, Ga., that will create more than 1,200 jobs, according to published reports.

The Effingham County site borders Savannah, and according to the Savannah Morning News the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority on Tuesday unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with Medient Studios Inc. to build the movie studio there.

Medient's chairman and CEO, Manu Kumaran, said he wants to revamp the film industry, creating full-time, permanent jobs.

The studio's campus will be built on the IDA's Interstate 16 property. Savannah News reports that it will be environmentally friendly, with no carbon-producing vehicles and with health care, day care and schooling for workers and their families.

Medient, which is a publically traded company, is a global film production and distribution company with a strong presence in India and North America.

This will be the company's first film studios, but Medient's previous titles include "Yellow," "Garp" and the horror/sci-fi film "Storage 24."

Effingham beat out New York and Pennsylvania for the project, and in Georgia, beat out Atlanta, according to Kumaran.

According to film database website IMDb, Kumaran is a second generation international film producer, who has produced 19 feature films in four languages. He is the oldest son of renowned Malayalam film director-producer KP Kumaran, and has been a part of the film business since he was young, working on all aspects of production and distribution.

Kumaran said Savannah's weather and lifestyle were big draws for his company.

The company's website says that its management team has more than 150 years of combined experience and has produced and/or financed more than 250 films. Its success has largely been a result of "aggressively optimizing the use of subsidy structures, tax benefits and other incentives to reduce the cost production costs, thereby increasing profit potential."

Georgia's movie tax credit was likely another attractive draw.

(Photo: courtesy of izziesbeth / www.picasa.com. Creative Commons)