Written by on Feb 12, 2013. Posted in On Location

Pinewood could run biggest studio facility in US state of Georgia

Pinewood Studios Group may run a major new studio being developed in Georgia in the US. The complex in Fayette County just outside Atlanta is scheduled to open in 2014 and will initially offer five sound stages covering 305,000 square feet.

Around USD20 million is being channelled into the development at this stage and there will be room for expansion in later years, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. There will be production offices, special effects facilities and mill shops alongside the sound stages, while there are longer-term plans to open a film school on the site.

“This development, if it goes through, will have a major regional impact not just in Fayette County but the metro Atlanta area - the Southside in particular,” Fayette Commission Chairman Steve Brown told the outlet: “It will also provide educational opportunities; it’s huge.”

Georgia's competitive filming incentive has helped it become a prolific filmmaking state in recent years, hosting high-profile features such as Flight and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, while also being the base for hit TV zombie drama The Walking Dead (above). The state’s biggest studio is currently the EUE/Screen Gems Atlanta facility.

(Stills image copyright: Gene Page/AMC)