As part of a creative family from Kernersville, NC, Rebecca was steeped in the arts at an early age. She sought a career that incorporated her interest and experience in visual art, theater, film, and music, and found just that at the Piedmont Triad Film Commission. Her job as Executive Director of the Piedmont Triad Film Commission is to recruit out-of-state film, television, commercial and video production to our area. She markets our beautiful locations, from historic buildings to farmland and private residences, as well as the qualified production crew we have here thanks to UNC School of the Arts, UNC Greensboro, Piedmont Community College and Wake Forest University.
“The outstanding film crew here, along with the area’s talented screenwriters, directors, and producers, are all top notch. I am passionate about marketing, or, as I like to call it, ‘showing off,’ these wonderful locals, this creative community and recruiting business that benefits us all,” said Rebecca.
Films made here provide much needed local jobs and boost our region’s economy substantially through money spent at our hotels, rental cars, restaurants, catering companies, site rentals, equipment and supplies, construction materials and much more.
Film also creates tourism. Projects filmed in North Carolina attract visitors from all over the world. Priddy’s General Store in Danbury, for example, regularly welcomes tourists and fans of Eli Roth’s film Cabin Fever. And Mount Airy attracts visitors worldwide for its association with The Andy Griffith Showand its star.
“The film industry is unique to other economic development efforts,” explained Rebecca. “It has benefited our rural counties that truly needed the additional influx of dollars. Matthew Weiner’s film Are You Here, starring Owen Wilson, Amy Poehler and Zach Galifianakis, was filmed in and financially benefitted Forsyth, Guilford, Surry and Rockingham Counties.”
When asked her favorite film that was shot here, Rebecca says she has a deep regard for each, but her favorite is Two Soldiers, a heartwarming film she recruited here in 2001 that won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.
The climate is now ripe for new film business here. Recently some much-needed changes have been made to the NC Film Grant program which will help us better compete with places like Georgia, where film is a 9.5 billion dollar industry. We’re currently hosting two reality series shooting in the region with one (and maybe another) on the near horizon, and Rebecca stays busy with commercial productions and television programs such as a segment for American Ninja Warriors that shot here recently.
Want to be involved? Freelance crew can add their information to piedmontfilm.com to be considered for hire. The Piedmont Triad Film Commission is always looking for interesting film locations, especially large private residences to be rented by production companies. Send photos and info to Rebecca@piedmontfilm.com.
Pictured: Rebecca Clark with Andy Sacks (producer of Two Soldiers) and Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles at the Oscars; Spike Lee and Rebecca Clark reminiscing about when he shot He Got Gamein the Piedmont Triad; Guy Gaster, Director, NC Film Office and Rebecca Clark on the set of Angus MacLachlan’s Abundant Acreage Available, winner of Best Screenplay, Tribeca Film Festival 2017.
Camel City Creates is a monthly column of Forsyth Womanmagazine featuring talented creative women in our community.
