In Covington/Newton County, otherwise known as the original Hollywood of the South™, we pride ourselves on the fact that the productions being filmed here use the real-life historical buildings in our community, rather than being recreated on a soundstage. Although, having a soundstage and studio opens up a new world of possibilities with the type of productions that can be filmed in the controlled environment. We are anxiously looking forward to the opening of our brand new production hub in Newton County, Three Ring Studios!
Covington is slowly working towards becoming a one-stop-shop for film production crews by making it easy to find locations, equipment, supplies, etc. What Three Ring Studios will bring to the table is a controlled environment in which various crews can produce film/TV, music, and video games. The three “rings” represent three different campuses that will embody the studio production site. According to a recent article by the Rockdale/Newton Citizen, President Rahim Charania told the Newton County Chamber of Commerce that the three campuses will have more than 600,000 square feet of soundstage space, 250,000 square feet of office space, and 150,000 square feet of support and office space as well as a space to educate and train the next generation of film leaders. Charania also proudly noted that this new studio will have Georgia’s first post-production and game development campus, which is very exciting for our area!
In another article by the local Covington News, David Bernd, Vice President of Economic Development with the Newton County Chamber of Commerce, said that thousands of local jobs will be available in our community due to this new major development. The article also cites that our area expects to see over 1,000 new jobs (or more) with an average salary of $84,000 brought by Three Ring Studios.
Development on this production site has already broken ground, and hopefully the first soundstages will be built soon. However, according to Bernd, our community may begin to reap the employment benefits of this new production studio sooner rather than later, depending on when the site is operational. Our community is also anticipating a huge increase in local tax revenues, with an estimated $1.8 million coming from Three Ring Studios!
The brand new production studio is planning to hold a Job Fair, hopefully in the coming months, and they are looking forward to meeting with locals to pull in some amazing talent for their film, TV, music, and gaming production. Stay tuned for more details and information!
