Craig Zobel knows it isn’t easy to make a movie in Georgia. At an April 28 Atlanta Film Festival Creative Conference panel, the director of “The Penguin” and “The Mare of Easttown” got candid about the difficulty of creating in his home state.
“The world doesn’t want you to,” he said. “You have to fight for it.”
Zobel is up for the fight. Recently, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced the director would kick off filming on his new feature “Turpentine” in May, and it would happen in Atlanta. The “humorous thriller” stars Melissa McCarthy and “Heated Rivalry” star Connor Storrie.
At the Creative Conference conversation, Craig Zobel talked with “The Spectacular Now” director James Ponsoldt about filming in Georgia, creative passion and the “fight” to get a movie made.
Both directors are Georgia natives. Zobel grew up in Atlanta, and Ponsoldt grew up in Athens, where he shot “The Spectacular Now” in 2012. The tax credit, which can cover up to 30% of production costs, was a useful incentive. But Ponsoldt said it still took conviction to get the film made.
“It was like, we have to make this here, I do not want to make this if we can’t make it here,” Ponsoldt said. “It will be so much better if we make it here, because for me, filming in Athens was like making a film about my family.”
For a film like “The Spectacular Now,” Ponsoldt said the script called for a suburban town. It didn’t have to be Athens, but he wanted to make the film in a meaningful place. It’s the sort of personal connection that brings both directors back to Georgia, even as they take major productions elsewhere.
“We need to show you can make movies like this, that aren’t just Marvel movies,” Zobel said.
For years, Marvel Studios helped turn Atlanta into the so-called “Hollywood of the South.” The tax incentives and low cost of living turned Georgia into a hub for Marvel, DC and major hits like “Stranger Things.”
But spending has dropped from $4.4 billion in 2022 to roughly $2.3 billion. “Stranger Things” ended a nearly decade-long run in 2025, and Marvel and DC both took productions overseas to places like the United Kingdom, where labor and production costs are cheaper. Zobel said it isn’t an Atlanta-specific issue.
“Right now, it’s a hard time to make a movie in general,” Zobel said. “It’s a lot easier to go to Romania and make a movie.”
The tax credit can offset some costs, but ultimately, there’s an “inherent difference” in how far a dollar can go in the United States compared to a country like Romania. So for the directors, Georgia production comes down to commitment.
“When you have that passion for a place, that kind of fight,” Ponsoldt said. “You have to have that to get any movie made.”
Ponsoldt joked when Craig Zobel makes a movie in Atlanta its “a big f*cking deal, because he’s a Georgian through and through.” It places “Turpentine” somewhere specific. For Zobel, it’s simple.
“I just feel like it’s important to kind of keep trying to do it here,” Zobel said. “Because if we don’t, if we send all the movies away for 10 years, there won’t be people doing the middle jobs.”
He continued, “I was a production person for a long time before I directed anything, and I don’t think I would have gotten to direct stuff if I hadn’t been working on other people’s projects.”
The Creative Conference runs alongside the Atlanta Film Festival, with 38 in-person panels featuring industry leaders, scholars and creatives from across the country. It will also host 12 virtual panels, totaling 50 events to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary.
This year’s festival runs through May 3, 2026. More festival details are available online.
