Business and entertainment attorney Charles Bowen was a featured speaker at the Georgia Entertainment 101 Event in Atlanta.

Bowen’s presentation “The Economic Impact of the Entertainment Industry on Savannah” focused on the importance of vetting production companies coming to the area as well as positioning Savannah as a top-notch provider of the local services required by productions.

Bowen is recognized within the Savannah film community for his formation of the Savannah Film Alliance in 2015, and, more recently, he founded Southern Gateway Production Services, which offers seamless opportunities for out-of-town producers and movie executives to navigate finding the best crews, talent and location services available in Savannah.

“We started the Film Alliance to promote the film community within Savannah and the greater Coastal Empire through advocacy and action via education, outreach and collaboration,” Bowen said. “My overall goal with both entities is to continue to build upon Savannah’s stature as one of the country’s most desirable and user-friendly filming locations in ways that will greatly benefit production companies while strengthening the relationship between visiting productions and local crew, vendors and service providers.”

Bowen’s presentation highlighted the importance of Savannah’s rising star as a production destination, with local spending on motion pictures and television in the area having risen from $18 million in 2014 to an all-time high of $60 million in 2016.

The purpose of the Georgia Entertainment 101 event was to connect top-tier professionals at a targeted and strategic networking event. Key financial, legal, banking and governmental leaders were in attendance as well as studio executives and producers. Other presentations focused on event security, investing strategies, entertainment banking and a look at what’s happening in Savannah.

The invitation-only event, held at the Moonshine Post-Production in Atlanta, was sponsored in part by: Argentum Entertainment, Atlanta Sound Guy, Cinema Greens, Creative Financial Group, Endeavor Sound, FilmTribe, MatchKey Consulting, Moonshine Post-production, Paradigm Security, River Oaks Studios, Sapelo Insurance, Sonesta Hotels and Zoes Kitchen.