Two Amazon Projects Pull Out Of Georgia Over Abortion Law

[Initech]

A Lionsgate film reuniting the Bridesmaids duo of Kristen Wiiig and Annie Mumolo and Amazon Prime series The Power have withdrawn from planned shoots in Georgia.

The state, which has become a hotbed of film and TV production in recent years, is also in the vanguard of states passing aggressive new proposals to ban abortion in all but a fraction of cases.

The pullout of Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar, co-written by Wiig and Mumolo (who also co-wrote Bridesmaids), was confirmed to Deadline by a source close to the production. Produced by Gloria Sanchez Productions and directed by Josh Greenbaum, the film centers on best friends who leave their Midwestern town for a vacation in Florida.

The Power also opted out of filming its 10 episodes in Georgia, abandoning a recent scouting effort in the state. The adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s book, announced earlier this year, pairs Broadchurch producer Jane Featherstone and The Handmaid’s Tale director/executive producer Reed Morano. After word of the withdrawal surfaced Tuesday, Morano retweeted several approving reactions.
https://deadline.com/2019/05/amazon-the-power-kristen-wiig-naomi-alderman-georgia-abortion-ban-withdraw-production-1202620120/

Excellent! Hit 'em where it hurts!

[RKP5637]

1. K&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[Wounded Bear]

2. K & R...for visibility...nt

[lindysalsagal]

3. Nice.

[Ohiogal]

4. A good start.

We need lots more!

[Blue_true]

5. Film in Washington State, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York State, Maine, Vermont,

New Mexico, Colorado. All states with beautiful varied terrain and little chance of passing laws that discriminate against their citizens.

[Ilsa]

7. Hell, film in Kansas! They elected a D governor!

[Mr. Evil]

10. But...

"The pullout of Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar, co-written by Wiig and Mumolo (who also co-wrote Bridesmaids), was confirmed to Deadline by a source close to the production. Produced by Gloria Sanchez Productions and directed by Josh Greenbaum, the film centers on best friends who leave their Midwestern town for a vacation in Florida."

Who the hell would leave a Midwestern town for a vacation in Kansas?

[Ilsa]

22. I doubt many of the locations filmed in GA

are portrayed as GA.

Was the georgia location supposed to be a midwestern town?

[Blue_playwright]

34. Hey! Kansas is beautiful. Wichita

Especially is becoming pretty darn cool.

[DownriverDem]

40. Michigan

We started to have a film industry here with tax cuts. Then the repubs won and destroyed the industry here. 2018 gave us Dems in top positions (Governor, Lt Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State). The repubs still control the House and Senate but by a smaller margin. Gerrymandering has hurt us here.

[Blue_true]

49. Didn't your voters pass an amendment that ended gerrymandering?

If so, when does it go into force?

Michigan would be a good film state, as would Virginia, Delaware and parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut (especially for woodsy scenes).

[gratuitous]

6. Georgia's governor wasn't impressed by previous announcements

Dismissing Academy Award winning actors as "C-list" celebrities. As more and more projects recall their second unit production teams from scouting Georgia locations, I wonder if Governor Knucklehead won't be changing his tune.

[kag]

36. He's a moron, and an illegitimate governor.

Liar, cheater, misogynist, asshole. I'm sure I could come up with some more appropriate adjectives, but that'll do for now.

[mountain grammy]

8. It happened to Colorado

We learned, progressed and survived.. come on Georgia, wake up. The whole world is watching.

[tosh]

11. Thanks for the encouragement!

We’re working on it.

[mountain grammy]

17. Good luck. It takes work

and an influx of new blood to the state.
There are good Dems in every state. We know they’re mobilizing due to 2018. I hope it continues.

[ProudLib72]

18. But have you noticed where the influx is coming from?

I see license plates predominantly from: Missouri, Florida, and Georgia. I have to hope that they are the sane ones escaping, but I still have my concerns.

[mountain grammy]

19. And Texas

But I see a lot of NY and California too. I tell myself the red state migrants are coming for legal weed and will be fairly liberal. What do you think?

[ProudLib72]

20. I just...

[mountain grammy]

21. Haha. Very good!

Me too!

[kag]

37. So this is an absolutely true story...

In 1992, when my hubby and I moved to Colorado from California, we had packed up our u-haul, he was driving it, and I was in the car. We stopped in Glenwood Springs to spend the night before finishing up the last leg into Boulder. Now, I had grown up in Texas and moved to California. Hubby grew up in Ventura, CA, and here we were moving to CO together.

We turned on the news in the hotel room, and the main story was about all of the people moving to Colorado...FROM TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA. I felt like we might as well have had a covered wagon with "Pikes Peak or Bust" on the side.

Almost thirty years later we still laugh about that.

[mountain grammy]

39. In 1992, we were finally recovering from the Reagan recession

But republicans were still in charge here . We’ve come a long way! Welcome to Colorado. Hope you’re still here.

Great story. I arrived in 84 and watched many friends move away when the economy tanked. While the population growth is annoying, I prefer it over the opposite.

[kag]

42. I haven't heard "welcome to Colorado" in a long time!

We bought a house outside Boulder in 94, and had two kids. They both live in Denver now. We're still in the old house, and are "old timers" in our neighborhood.

I remember the dark days of Bill Owens (a fellow Texan, I'm ashamed to say) and Ben "Traitor" Campbell. It has been nice to watch the turn-around. Now we just have to get rid of f**king Gardner.

[mountain grammy]

44. Yes indeed. We have to get rid of Gardner.

Udall was a great Senator. I'll never forgive the Denver Post and all others who endorsed Gardner over Udall.

[TygrBright]

9. ::Waves hand vigorously:: "New Mexico!! New Mexico!! Netflix is even movin' here!"

We have WONDERFUL facilities, studios, lots of skilled production people, accommodations for crews, rendering farms for FX work, and great incentives and tax breaks for film and TV production projects!

We would LOVE to have y'all!

Plus the food is awesome.

hopefully,
Bright

[murielm99]

30. I love New Mexico.

Is it affordable for a retired person?

[TygrBright]

31. Albuquerque's pretty affordable, so is Las Cruces.

Santa Fe's a bit pricey.

But if you look carefully you can find something affordable most places.

helpfully,
Bright

[mountain grammy]

45. We spent half of March in Albuquerque..

I love New Mexico. Reminds me of Colorado in the 80's.. and the food!!! The Best!!!!!

[LisaM]

12. I have a friend who works in the film industry there...

she does makeup on shoots. She's very liberal and I'm curious what her take is on this. She lives a pretty paycheck-to-paycheck existence, AFAIK.

[BigmanPigman]

13. Someone who worked in "the industry" there

was on CNN last weekend and she said she and her liberal co-workers would end up getting hurt too. This is typical "both sides-ism" and used to undermine support. I feel badly for those who are liberal and will suffer economically but I still support the boycotts. Maybe more of these liberals will vote next time around. Besides, what is that old saying, "You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet".

[LisaM]

16. Oh, I'm not necessarily against the boycott.

I boycott tons of stuff (ironically, including Amazon) and most of my boycotts are spectacularly unsuccessful, but I try.

I don't think the government of Georgia cares about individuals in these industries, anyway. They will only care if people with deep pockets get hurt.

[mountain grammy]

46. I agree and support boycotts.

It was one of the things that woke up Colorado!

[BigmanPigman]

47. So they DO work, that's good to know!

[mountain grammy]

48. I don't think Colorado expected such a public backlash

when Amendment 2 was passed. I never worked harder on a campaign then I did to defeat that outrageous, homophobic trash, so I was devastated when it passed and glad to see the national outcry and the boycott.

The amendment finally went down in the courts, but I think the whole ordeal, including the boycott, taught voters a lesson. I hope the same holds true for all.

[PatrickforO]

14. Good. The bible thumpers don't need any of our money. n/t

[smirkymonkey]

15. Hear, hear!

[cstanleytech]

23. Hell I wish I could opt out of this shithole of a so called state.

Unfortunately though I'm trapped here with no financial means of leaving.

[YOHABLO]

24. It's estimated that Georgia will lose 4.6 billion dollars from productions that opt out.

Nice work governor. Dumb ass.

[TruckFump]

25. Maybe Georgia should institute a state church tax...

...to make up for the lost revenue from other sources?

Now there's a thought!!!

[customerserviceguy]

29. Or, if these states want to strike back at Hollywood

They could institute a $5 excise tax on movie tickets, collected through the same administrative system that sales tax on those tickets is collected. Hollywood depends on box-office figures to declare hits and duds, and jacking the price of a ticket would be a way to hurt the grosses in those states.

We're going to war with each other, splitting into Blue America and Red America. Putin's dream.

[John Fante]

32. Nice bothsideism.

Don't blame Putin for the red state war on women. Don't blame him for the righteous backlash that results from it either.

[47of74]

35. I second that.

Engaging in hand wringing instead of standing up for ourselves is what Putin wants.

[customerserviceguy]

51. That's a new one

I've heard of "whataboutism" but not "bothsideism". Did you invent that word?

The gist of my post is that we're splitting up into two nations, boycotts and targeted taxes are both part of that. Maybe that's something you see as a good thing. I don't.

[LanternWaste]

38. I fail to see how boycott's are part and parcel of Putin dream.

Nor do I think a red state government would even attempt to rationalize higher taxes.

[customerserviceguy]

50. Boycotts are not

but splitting the United States into two parts is.

[Blue Owl]

26. Georgia off my mind

n/t

[Hoyt]

27. Sadly, all Georgians will pay for this white wing junk, even good Democrats.

But, this will hopefully bring about long needed change.

[recovering_democrat]

28. Excellent. Keep it up!

Georgia had been quite proud of it self attracting film business. May they lose with their horrible legal efforts to criminalize women's issues.

[Lady_Chat]

33. Thank you Amazon!

[Nitram]

41. Way to go Bezos.

[LiberalLovinLug]

43. That's okay. The Blue States will subsidize any economic losses.

https://www.salon.com/2018/11/16/how-blue-states-help-red-states_partner/

Welfare has become especially unpopular in “red” states that vote Republican and support Trump.

But these same states are often the biggest beneficiaries of government assistance.

Include price supports for agriculture, subsidies for land management and forestry, and defense contractors, and you find that a large portion of the economies of red states depend on federal dollars.

Here’s the irony. Residents of “blue” states send more tax money to Washington than they get back in federal help, while residents of “red” states send less money to Washington than they get back in federal help.

In 2015, for example, New Jersey got back only 74 cents in federal spending for every tax dollar it sent to Washington. New York got back 81 cents, Connecticut: 82 cents, and Massachusetts: 83 cents.

But when you turn to the red states, it’s the opposite. Mississippi received $2.13 for every tax dollar it sent to Washington. West Virginia: $2.07. Kentucky: $1.90. And South Carolina: $1.71.




I really wish this fact was brought up more when Republicans of Red States try and claim how much better it is to have low minimum wages and corporate tax rates. Call them out on this.