Georgia Film Academy (GFA) Founder and former Executive Director Jeffrey Stepakoff and Josh Lee, former GFA Director of Strategy and Operations, today announced a new venture that will further the state’s entertainment industry by creating one of the first talent management and production companies for Georgia-based writers and content creators. Stepakoff and Lee will continue to assist the GFA, consulting through their new firm.
“This endeavor is the natural evolution of what we started at the Georgia Film Academy seven years ago,” Stepakoff said. “The GFA today is sustainable and scalable, a point of pride for Georgia. The program has served a pivotal role in advancing the state’s entertainment industry by training the next generation of ‘below-the-line’ professionals and is poised to do so for generations. Our new venture will build upon that foundation, advancing the “above-the-line” sector, helping Georgia’s most talented people produce the world’s most exceptional stories.”
Content Talent South (CTS) will identify, represent, and produce the work of Georgia-based writers and content creators. In addition, the company will provide consulting services to brands, businesses, and education initiatives in Georgia and beyond.
“The entertainment industry is going through an unprecedented time of growth,” said Stepakoff. “We are super excited to lend our truly unique experience and expertise to help fuel that growth, and to provide hardworking Georgians with new opportunities and jobs.”
Most of Georgia’s film industry remains concentrated in the traditional production space. CTS will focus on expanding the business by developing, representing, and producing the work of writers, who create jobs and are the wellspring for virtually all economic activity associated with filmed production globally.
CTS will also provide a wide range of entertainment industry consulting services. “Along with advancing content creators and their work, Jeff and I look forward to using our knowledge and relationships to also grow the digital production, gaming, and Esports industries, as well as to support new kinds of bold educational initiatives,” said Lee. “We plan to draw on our years developing cutting-edge workforce programming to help build and define future businesses.”
Under Stepakoff’s leadership, the GFA was founded in 2015 without precedent and is now considered the gold standard for developing industry professionals by the Motion Picture Association and most of the major production companies which work in Georgia.
Since classes began in 2016, the GFA grew from less than 200 students at two universities and a technical college to more than 14,000 enrollments with 29 partnering educational institutions, public and private. Over 1,400 students have completed internships, and direct spending on television and film production in the state more than doubled, from $2 billion to $4.4 billion, since the organization was founded. GFA students, during Stepakoff’s tenure, were 52% people of color and 50% female.
“We are eager to continue consulting with public sector leadership and higher education stakeholders to help ensure no disruptions to the services GFA provides to its diverse range of academic partners across the state, private sector associates, studios, production companies, and vendors as the program continues to develop,” Stepakoff said. “We are proud to stand on the shoulders of the GFA’s success as a primary driver of the entertainment industry’s growth in Georgia, and we are excited to ensure that legacy continues as we advance our vision now in the private sector.”
CTS has acquired the rights to nine novels, scripts, and outlines, all with stories set in Georgia, and intended to be used as the basis for motion pictures and television series to be entirely produced and filmed in the state. Stepakoff says script development is currently underway for the first of these acquisitions, with production being planned for 2023.
About Content Talent South
Content Talent South is one of the first film and television literary talent management and production companies based in Georgia. Along with its mission to help Georgia’s most talented people produce the world’s most exceptional stories, through its consulting practice, CTS is also committed to advancing bold ideas for brands, businesses, and education. In addition to developing and producing motion pictures and television from its acquired library rights of intellectual property – primarily novels and scripts which are set in and intended to be filmed in Georgia – CTS plans to advance the work of the GFA by retaining, producing, and investing in the work of the state’s unique writers and content creators, thereby establishing a truly sustainable and complete homegrown industry. Established by Jeffrey Stepakoff, Founding Executive Director of the Georgia Film Academy and widely recognized as the architect of the state’s talent pipeline, and Josh Lee, the former Director of Strategy and Operations at the GFA and the visionary leader in workforce development for cutting edge industries, CTS will develop and represent today’s most promising writers, artists, and ideas, and, from its home in Georgia, is focused on growing and creating the future of the global entertainment business. For more information, visit https://www.contenttalentsouth.com.
