Krissy Alban definitely plans to see “Goosebumps 2 Haunted Halloween,” a Georgia-based production that opens this week. What brings her to the theater is more than the movie itself; it’s the run-down Victorian mansion where actor Jack Black’s character lives.
In the new storyline, the house in the original “Goosebumps” has been abandoned for decades. As part of the paint utility crew for “Goosebumps 2,” Krissy worked to age a beautiful home near Decatur that usually serves as a wedding venue into a place creepy enough for Slappy and the other “Goosebumps” ghouls.
And when Krissy sees “The Hate U Give,” which opened this month, she’ll see one of the bigger projects she’s worked on — a complete makeover of an Atlanta block to add murals and alternate storefronts to transform the street to fit the movie.
“It’s a tradition from my childhood, growing up with a Dad who works on sets,” says Krissy, a 26-year-old resident of Conyers. “We go to the movies to see the work we’ve done.”
Krissy, a native of South Florida, followed her father — prop maker and special effects expert David Alban — to Georgia in 2015. For Krissy, it was a bold move made in hopes of taking her film and television production career to the next level. It was a gamble that paid off. As a paint utility crew member, her set work includes “The Fate of the Furious,” “Pitch Perfect 3,” and “Miracle Workers.”
She’s proudly working full-time at her chosen profession, no longer filling downtime with short-term jobs like retail or phone technical support. Every time she gets a new production project, she expands her skills and responsibilities, Krissy says.
She describes bringing her love of detail to her set work, an attribute that came in handy with her work at the old Douglasville, GA, prison for “Logan Lucky,” one of her first jobs in Georgia. As she finished up one of the last sets for the movie, production scouts for “MacGyver” came through, asking a host of questions about everything from custom paint mixes to color palettes. “I kept great records, and had just about every answer they needed,” says Krissy.
Krissy says she has no regrets following film and television industry opportunities to Georgia. She’s currently working on a new production, and so is her father. Her fiancé works in the industry as a painter and prop maker, and a number of uncles and cousins work primarily in set construction.
“A lot of my family has relocated to Georgia to work in the film industry,” Krissy says. “We thought we’d move here for a couple of years, but we’re now buying houses and truly creating a new life. We plan to stay right here in Georgia.”