When they founded Bay Point Media in 2019, partners Rob Moran and Chandler Rierson predicted they’d have at least one film production wrapped by now.
Let’s make that four, with a fifth in the works and a pipeline leading opportunity straight to South Georgia communities of Thomasville, Tifton, Moutrie, and beyond.
“We’re feeding the ecosystem that is developing here in Georgia,” say Rob, who moved his family to Georgia in 2013 after a 25-year acting career in LA and New York that included roles in dozens of productions, including Farrelly Brothers comedies “There’s Something About Mary,” “Dumb and Dumber,” and “Me, Myself & Irene.” “There is such a need for content now, and Georgia has everything to meet that need, from a variety of locations to talented, experienced crew. That matters.”
Rob and Chandler, a native of Calhoun, GA, and graduate of Oglethorpe University, steer Bay Point Media, an off-shoot of Bay Point Advisors. Bay Point Media provides financing solutions to film and television productions.
Bay Point Media’s first feature film, “The Tiger Rising,” with Dennis Quaid and Queen Latifah, was filmed in 2019 in Thomasville, the hometown of Rob’s wife Julie Moran. The film had a nearly $2 million impact on the South Georgia community of about 20,000 people. “One Way” with Machine Gun Kelly and Kevin Bacon brought more than 100 jobs to Thomasville this year.
“Super Cell,” starring Alec Baldwin is also filming in Thomasville, and Mel Gibson’s “Bandit” is filming in both Thomasville and Tifton.
“We approach every movie with the idea of how it can help the local communities,” says Chandler, adding that productions can employ hundreds of people, including veterans and newcomers exploring opportunities in the state’s film and TV production industry. “People who have never worked on a film get a great learning experience, and for some of them, it’s in their own hometown.”
In addition to production financing, Bay Point Media is a preferred equity investor in Trilith Studios, an international studio complex in Fayetteville; a senior construction lender for Cinelease Studios – Three Ring, a purpose-built media campus located in Covington; and an investor in Bento Box Entertainment, an Emmy-winning animation studio owned by Fox Entertainment with a full-service animation studio in Atlanta.
“We can’t even imagine where the industry in Georgia could be in five years,” says Rob, who likens the industry’s potential here to that of Burbank in the 1950s. “The opportunity for Georgians in this industry is endless.”