Make Films. Make Noise. In Georgia.

The best thing Hollywood can do for Georgia is to stay here forever.

I used to think a boycott could fix everything from dictators running amok in third world countries to unscrupulous ice cream vendors at the local park. But a boycott is not a one-size fits all solution to bad governments, bad laws or bad labor practices. A visible Hollywood presence in Georgia is the best thing the film industry can do for the state.

Atlanta had been struggling with an identity crisis probably since the end of the Civil War. When I moved here in the late ’90s, the city was still taking hits for trying, and mostly failing, to model itself after the big cities it admired like New York, Miami, and Austin. Atlanta’s inferiority complex was a hot topic back then. “Is it just me, or do you think Atlanta tries too hard?” a colleague asked at the time. “Oh my god, yes!” sighed another. “It’s so tiring. I don’t want to live in some New York City knock-off, I want to live here.”

Two decades later, Atlanta has its own identity fueled by an influx of creative talent and renovated urban spaces like The Beltline that turned forgotten stretches of railroad tracks into art-filled parks and paths dotted with restaurants, shops, and apartments. Atlanta also boasts a championship soccer team and its very own set of (heaven help us) Real Housewives.