A $16.5 million investment through Green Honey, LLC is bringing two entertainment content companies to Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayetteville. Los Angeles-based children’s entertainment company Sutikki and New York-based Believe Entertainment Group will base production offices at Pinewood Atlanta.
It has been well-publicized that the Pinewood name will soon no longer be attached to the studios in Fayetteville, with the Pinewood Group focusing its attention on expanding in Britain. That said, what is happening in Fayetteville is evidence of the evolution of the production ecosystem expanding along Veterans Parkway.
Green Honey, LLC, headed by Pinewood Atlanta Studios President Frank Patterson and Senior Vice President Craig Heyl closed a $16.5 million round for investment in Sutikki and Believe, which will be the first content companies to expand at Pinewood Atlanta.
Patterson said the majority of the $16.5 million came from high net worth people in Georgia.
Green Honey has also acquired a significant ownership position in Pinewood Atlanta Studios itself, and will continue raising venture funds in 2020 for further investment. The company is currently fundraising for its next round of investments.
Commenting on what is occurring at the studios, Patterson said, “We’re doing something beyond the scope and brand of Pinewood. We felt the need to take advantage of what’s happening in entertainment around the world. This is an evolution and we’re taking an evolutionary step. We’re stepping outside the Pinewood brand, and expanding beyond the best facilities in the world.”
A part of that expansion includes bringing content companies, such Sutikki and Believe Entertainment to Fayetteville.
Sutikki and Believe Entertainment Group will now base production offices at Pinewood Atlanta Studios and join 49 other entertainment companies on the Pinewood lot.
Sutikki already spent 52 weeks at Pinewood for its production of “Moon and Me,” Patterson said.
What is happening at Pinewood Atlanta, which will be changing its name in the near-term, and with Green Honey is indicative of the emerging production ecosystem that is occurring in the state, and in Fayetteville.
Though clearly Fayette County’s largest industry, with 3,500 people on the studio lot each day and the large rapidly-expanding Pinewood Forest community directly across Veterans Parkway, there is more to the story.
“It’s beyond the number of jobs. It’s about better innovation and education and technology,” Patterson noted. “The (Sutikki and Believe) deals, along with our future investment in content and technology companies, represent the next step in the evolution of Georgia’s production ecosystem. We are now able to imagine, fund, produce and distribute entertainment content, while deepening the bench of the dozens of other entertainment-related companies already located at our studios.”
Currently populating the Pinewood Atlanta ecosystem are 49 companies, with Patterson expecting that number to reach 100 companies in the next 3-5 years.
Another aspect of that ecosystem deals with post-production activities. That, too, is being accomplished at Pinewood. Patterson said Technicolor came to the studio in 2019, with another post-production company in the works.
“We are excited about these new developments at Pinewood, showcasing the state as a worldwide leader in the creation of entertainment content overall,” said Deputy Commissioner of the Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Office Lee Thomas. “The entire state of Georgia will benefit from continued investment in our already surging film and television production business.”
Sutikki is a family entertainment company that last year produced 50 episodes of the new television series “Moon and Me” at Pinewood Atlanta Studios. The series, which was co-created and co-produced by Andy Davenport, best known as the creator of “Teletubbies,” was recently nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Kids Series. The show proved popular with audiences when it made its global television premiere on the BBC in early February 2019, and its U.S. premiere on NBC/Universal in May 2019.
Believe Entertainment Group is an entertainment company that produces high-profile, talent driven content for digital, TV and theatrical distribution. The company earned both an Academy Award and an Emmy Award in 2018 for Kobe Bryant’s “Dear Basketball.” Believe has a slate of projects in development to produce in Georgia.
Set across 700 acres, Pinewood Atlanta Studios currently sits at more than 1 million square feet under roof, with 18 sound stages ranging from 15,000 to 40,000 sq. ft. and a 400-acre backlot
Frank Patterson is making Fayette great!