Many are talking about the new Fayette Pinewood Studios. The thinking is that this will open up doors to a lot of new indirectly related businesses in the area and that it will basically change the face of Fayette.
This new industry will not only bring movie production, but spills over with the need for a ton of other business endeavors from hair styling and construction needs to business expertise and entertainment sources, and on and on.
Let’s face it, a whole empire of newness surrounds the movie industry. The face of Fayette most likely will change.
I’ve already heard from several people lately who have been asked without solicitation to be extras in movies being filmed locally. Get out and about … you might just become a star.
I’ve also recently met people connected to the movie industry who have just come here to settle, and there are people in transit who are coming and going to do jobs or to check out what’s going on. Some people have received notices lately asking permission to use their homes in movie sets.
Soon people will be coming here in droves. Pinewood built it and they will surely come. Where are these new people going to live, eat and hang out? I’m sure there will be an expansion of not only houses and apartments, but hopefully restaurants, shops and night life venues. Overnight, Fayette could move from the dim light of family suburbia to the spotlight of fame and fortune.
Since Fayette is becoming the new movie capital of the world it seems, maybe it’s appropriate to look forward in that direction. The idea of erecting a sign on a nearby hill overlooking Highway 54 shouting PINEYWOOD is bit of overkill, but even that is not impossible if there is profit behind it.
I can just imagine a new-age Lana Turner being discovered at CVS or Rite Aid. Big Daddy’s can change their name to Brown Derby without having to give up the BD advertising already in place. Maybe the Dollar Theater can become a new Grauman’s and the Pineywood Walk of Fame can be sprinkled along the cart paths throughout the county.
I just read that the movie set of Tara was rediscovered and has been stored in a Georgia barn for 39 years. That barn is in Lovejoy, right up the road. Since this general area was the setting for “Gone With the Wind,” maybe someone ought to capitalize on that and restore Tara along Hwy. 54 for both ambiance and tourist attraction.
I must say that I really was impressed with Pinewood Studios’ beginning. They said at the end of last year that they were going to begin building an empire. By January, the results were already amazing. Actual buildings were in place, and the surrounding area began taking a new shape. If this had been a government project, it would have taken six or ten years.
Of course, this or any other major industry moving into the area will also bring some of the bad stuff … more traffic, more crime and higher prices, but those things come along with any progression of new industry and growth. We’ll have to take the bad with the good.
Most of this is in jest, but when you think about all that grew up and out of the movie industry business around Hollywood, it is possible that Fayette may be facing some of the same kind of growth, both good and bad.
I hope that the visionaries of Fayette are considering what may be a major impact on this area in the very near future. There is obviously money, power, prestige and determination behind the movie industry and it looks like it’s heading our way.
Hopefully, Fayette doesn’t have its head buried too far in the sand. As Scarlett said, “I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”
Yeah, well — maybe ought to start thinking about that today.
Ralph Ferguson
Peachtree City, Ga.
