Remembering Jimmy Carter, the state’s film commission-creating cinephile
Welcome to The Scene, your look behind the camera on key issues and trends impacting Georgia’s greatest cultural exports: its ever-evolving film, music and media industries.
I'm your host Savannah Sicurella, a resident pop culture fiend who has been following, and now reporting on, Georgia’s entertainment industry for years.
Jimmy Carter, the only Georgia native elected president of the United States, died at the end of December. Among dozens of other accomplishments, Carter is remembered for laying the groundwork for the state’s multibillion dollar film industry, now one of its greatest cultural exports.
Before entertainment behemoths such as Tyler Perry or Marvel Studios would become part of the recurring cast of characters in the lore of Georgia’s film industry, there was Jimmy Carter.
Carter and Spivia knew there was a business opportunity in continuing this momentum. So they decided to further open the state up to Hollywood, offering what other major film hubs couldn’t: no — or less — red tape when shooting their films.
Three decades later, the introduction of an uncapped film tax credit would take Georgia’s film industry to the stratosphere. Studios have spent billions to shoot some of the highest-grossing films of all time in Georgia, developers quadrupled the amount of soundstage space and cities like Senoia or Covington turned into tourist destinations after they played host to “The Walking Dead” and “The Vampire Diaries."
Carter’s film commission still exists today. The Georgia Film Office , as it is called, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. Though not without its criticisms, the decades of investment in the industry have created thousands of jobs that would’ve otherwise gone out of state.
Creative you should know: Katherine Roarty, dancer and choreographer
The day after performing with Katy Perry for hundreds of who's-who at the Met Gala, Katherine Roarty spent the afternoon babysitting.
"I was dancing with Celine Dion and other amazing people," Roarty said, laughing as she reminisces the 2017 performance. "The next day, I'm changing a diaper for a 3-year-old. This is how this job works. Those gorgeous moments happen, but even for people at the peak of their career, you're not always at that gorgeous moment.”
Roarty is a dancer, choreographer and actor who has worked across film, TV and the stage. She's danced on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, served as both a dance captain and swing, where she learned every ensemble part in a show, and performed stunt work for Marvel projects, among dozens of other roles. She's in constant motion — she not only moves for a living, but moves to decompress, too, choosing to run and do yoga to release stress. Having cut her teeth in New York, Roarty moved to Atlanta in 2020 with her husband, where she's begun to work more in film and television.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What led you to your career?
I grew up dancing. I started at age 3 at a local studio and did everything — gymnastics, ballet, tap, jazz. I think it frightened my mom. She was like 'Oh, she knows all the steps at age three, front and center. Here we go.'
In college, I decided to double major in business and dance. It was a fun duality of being in a crunchy granola small school of liberal art education, and then being in the massive, 500-plus-per-class business school.
I would spend my summers in the city figuring out where I was going to go next. My junior year, I spent my summer in New York at Broadway Dance Center, where we did mock auditions for what an audition for Beyonce, the Rockettes or a Broadway show would look like. That's where I met my agent, I was one of four out of the 100 of us. That set my sights on New York, and I moved there in 2011.
I quickly booked my first commercial, and then I was a dancer for the Victoria's Secret show and then Nicki Minaj. I was like 'Oh, New York is fun and cool,' and then I learned that it's not always that busy. More rejection came into the idea of understanding what this career path is.
What are some of the differences between working as a dancer in Atlanta and New York?
A lot of new trends come out of Atlanta. It has a huge hip-hop community, so it's a great training ground for a career as a back-up dancer or commercial dancer in hip-hop.
The biggest difference is the access to class. Atlanta has more of an evening schedule, so there aren't a ton of daytime or afternoon opportunities. Everything happens after the 5 o'clock work hour. This also includes the musical theater world, where some of the rehearsals don't start until after five. In New York, at the Broadway Dance Center, there's class from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and then you have your downtown dance studios. There's more training that happens all day.
Job opportunity-wise, it's a lot of television and film, so things are just shorter. In New York, I could be hired at the Met Opera, which has a six-month duration. Those opportunities aren't as available here in Atlanta.
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During your early days of working professionally, what was it like adjusting to that feeling of rejection?
I feel like it's the baseline of a performer's career path. I had a bit of it in college, when I wasn't chosen for the big projects, so I remember some of that stinging happening early. I belong to an acting school where they reframe it as selection, not rejection.
Those first two or three years, there was a lot of heartbreak, but it got better with time. I had some great roommates and friends who were in it with me, so that was helpful — making sure I had a life, so that it wasn't just all wrapped up in my career achievements. With this field, sometimes you're just not what they're looking for.
Did it propel you to improve?
When I got to New York, I had to up my voice, I had to get better. I was a great dancer in the room — I could always book the dance role, but I needed to be able to sing. That push of rejection can push you into rooms and make you stretch yourself.
Do you think people’s perception of dance and musical theater has shifted over the past decade as platforms like YouTube or TikTok have exposed both art forms to new audiences?
I love how dancers are more integrated into storytelling, and how these stories can be shared through a more accessible and affordable way. Someone can have a Netflix subscription or use YouTube for free and be able to see artwork, as opposed to the ticket to a Broadway show.
But I still think there's a long way to go. The education I received for modern dance was preparing us for a career as a concert dancer, where you're doing a two-and-a-half hour full-length dance show, whereas TikTok, social media or even commercial dance, you're doing short sprints. I’ve noticed a difference in the endurance of some of the younger artists that I meet, being able to sustain a whole show, their education or training doesn't necessarily support that.
But TikTok, it's a skill. These young artists know how to use a camera amazingly. But take them out of the camera, take them out of the image they're seeing and feeling into their body, that part of the education in their training is missing, because it's focused on what the image looks like, as opposed to the feeling.
What advice would you give someone looking to pursue dance professionally?
Get a life. The industry will make you think it's tied up into your worth. Like: 'What next project are you doing? What's your next thing?' It's okay not to know. There's a lot of not-knowing.
Wait, they filmed that here?
Telling someone that Tyler Perry filmed his newest movie in Georgia is a bit redundant. Of course he did. Where else would Perry shoot his film other than the state in which he has built a sprawling, 12-soundstage studio?
Perry’s latest film is a partial exception to this. The Six Triple Eight, released on Netflix shortly before Christmas, follows an all-Black, all-female battalion that managed postal services in World War II. Parts of the film were shot in Bradford and Cambridgeshire, England.
But Atlanta still served as home base. One of the more important settings in the film is the mailroom. Instead of fashioning a soundstage or one of the many standing permanent sets at Perry’s studio into one, his crews took to Rome, Georgia to take advantage of the vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows at Berry College’s stately Ford Dining Hall.
??What Savannah's been watching this month??
Not as many Christmas-themed movies as one would hope, unless you could call “Babygirl” one. I drove to Athens to see “Wild Things” as part of James Ponsoldt’s yearlong Southern Noir programming at Cine, which was paired with “Spring Breakers,” both set in Florida (a missed opportunity to show my personal favorite Florida-set film, Larry Clark’s “Bully”). And, finally, a movie I’ve been waiting more than one full calendar year to see: Jack Huston’s directorial debut “Day of the Fight,” which I have more bad things to say about than good, none of which concern Joe Pesci’s heartbreaking performance.