The entertainment industry is a multi-faceted business. Now, more than ever. Between film, television, music, NFTs, crypto and metaverse development, the intersection of entertainment and technology has never been more prominent. Each medium is an opportunity for storytelling. And each one complements the other in unique ways. This issue of Georgia Hollywood Review is full of the people, places and things that make the entertainment industry special. It’s about the colorful and determined individuals who make up the business. At the end of the day, the industry today is not much different that ..read more

The movie business in Georgia is poppin’. It’s quite clear that the industry is not only here to stay in the Peach State, but is here to thrive. The pages that follow chronicle that journey. Georgia Hollywood Review tells the stories of the storytellers. The traditionally marginalized. Black, white, or brown. Gay or straight. Male or female. He, she, or they. It’s time to tell the stories of the other side. Time to balance the scales. Not only are these stories interesting and relevant, but they are fresh, new, and exciting perspectives for the viewer. They give us lift and inspiration. They t ..read more

GA ACTOR By Denise K. James When Deji LaRay was in elementary school, his mother wisely heeded the advice of his 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Banks: to foster his natural talent through live theater. Young Deji immediately took to the stage, first at school and then around the city of Atlanta, performing his heart out in venues such as the Horizon Theatre, Neighborhood Playhouse and, eventually, Youth Ensemble of Atlanta, or YEA, which was based in Little Five Points. “I think it was YEA that really made me into a true performer,” he says now. By the young age of 13, LaRay was in New York City, sig ..read more

By Denise K. James GEORGIA TALENT From the time she was a child, Reece Odum, actress, producer and Atlanta native, knew she wanted to perform in front of an audience. With the encouragement of her parents—whom she says “instilled in us that we could do whatever we wanted in life”—young Odum attempted and loved everything artistic, from ballet to drama classes to playing cello in the school orchestra. As her family anxiously awaited her to choose one talent and stick resolutely to it, Odum cleverly found a way to incorporate many interests together: pageants. While she attended college, variou ..read more

GEORGIA BASED ACTOR By Carol Badaracco Padgett Margot Bingham isn’t trying to get what everyone else has in the industry. “Whatever I want to have as my successes in life… I have mine and everybody else has their own. What’s meant for all of us is ours,” she philosophizes. “It’s easy to compare yourself to others in the industry, and to measure your success compared to theirs,” she adds. “It’s not the best way to live.” This outlook is a down-to-earth, self-assured formula that has served the actor, singer, songwriter, dancer, and producer well. And it has helped Bingham “keep her blinders on ..read more

GA ACTOR By Denise K. James When Deji LaRay was in elementary school, his mother wisely heeded the advice of his 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Banks: to foster his natural talent through live theater. Young Deji immediately took to the stage, first at school and then around the city of Atlanta, performing his heart out in venues such as the Horizon Theatre, Neighborhood Playhouse and, eventually, Youth Ensemble of Atlanta, or YEA, which was based in Little Five Points. “I think it was YEA that really made me into a true performer,” he says now. By the young age of 13, LaRay was in New York City, sig ..read more

GA STREAMING By Carol Badaracco Padgett Some people follow movements, while others create them. Some interpret data, while others generate it. Some are busy finding themselves, while others are productive being who they are. Atlantan Ryan Millsap, Chairman and CEO of The Blackhall Group, is the latter in each of these scenarios. He creates, generates, and produces his own brand of results in the film industry and beyond. “One of my gifts is seeing opportunities that are being neglected or hidden in plain sight, and understanding the growth of industries in a manner that allows me to take actio ..read more

LA TO GA By Autumn Murray Louis Gossett Jr. is an icon in the film and television industry with more than 400 acting credits in his repertoire. He is highly known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 romantic drama film An Officer and a Gentleman, in which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor—the first black actor to receive the award. He has also won an Emmy Award for his role as Fiddler in the 1977 ABC television miniseries Roots. The highly acclaimed series broke television records and was even viewed more times than the American classic Gone With the Wind ..read more

Hollywood means many things to different people. It’s not just a place, it’s a state of mind. Whether it’s the feeling you had as a child when Luke learned to master the force in Star Wars, or the dreams of romance that Casablanca gave you when Bogart looked into Ingrid Bergman’s eyes, or simply the elation you felt when Rocky climbed those stairs on his run in the streets of Philadelphia, Hollywood is a place which transforms the imagination and takes us to places which we would not ordinarily go on our own. In this same vein, Jeymes Samuel (The Bullitts) takes us to a place we are familiar ..read more

WOMEN IN FILM By Denise K. James You might call Aubri Ebony a renaissance woman— after all, she’s dabbled in almost everything creative. From modeling to acting to film writing and even producing, Ebony, who was born and raised in Chicago, has sampled various artistic endeavors with both confidence and fervor, and it has certainly paid off. She confesses that since early childhood, all sorts of creative pursuits appealed to her. Raised by a grandmother who encouraged self-expression, Ebony immersed herself in singing, read- ing books, dancing, writing poetry, even constructing “ferris wheels a ..read more