Last month we were fortunate to connect with one of the co-founders of Electric Owl Studios, Dan Rosenfelt. Located in the heart of DeKalb County, Georgia, just south of Decatur, Electric Owl Studios is the world’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certified ground-up studio campus in Atlanta, Georgia. Co-founded by former Third Rail Studio executives, Dan Rosenfelt and Michael Hahn, Electric Owl Studios is a purpose built film and television studio committed to quality, community and sustainability. Electric Owl Studios had its grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, June 8th.
Atlanta Film and TV: For our readers and viewers who may not know, could you share with us about the inspiration behind creating the world’s first LEED Gold certified ground-up studio campus?
Dan Rosenfelt: "When my business partner, Michael Hahn, and I began discussing what we wanted to create as a new studio, we started to look in the marketplace and keep an eye on what may be missing in physical production studio spaces like ours. There are tons of nice studios around the world and great ones in Atlanta and in the state of Georgia. However, we noticed studios weren't hyper-focusing on sustainability and being green. We knew our production clients, which are third-party productions that lease our space from Netflix, Disney, Apple, and Amazon, have been cleaning up their act in terms of trying to be greener and more sustainable in their production methods with less waste. We noticed those productions have been moving in a greener direction, but studios have not. We thought it would be great to build a comfortable studio with all the amenities that productions need for daily activities and a green facility that meets them where they have headed for years with sustainability."
Atlanta Film and TV: What inspired you and Micahel Hahn to establish and commit to quality, community, and sustainability?
Dan Rosenfelt: "Quality in regard to our productions and how people feel when they walk onto our studio campus, and how their day to day lives are in our campus, is important, because they spend a minimum of 12 hours per day within our campus and in our our production offices, our ancillary space, and in our stages. It was important for us to build something that felt like home to productions, ultra-high quality and have a certain visual aesthetic making it pleasant to be at our studio. At the end of the day, these buildings only need to be functional and traditionally, that’s what they have been around the world. But, we wanted to bring it up a level and make it feel like a homebase, and that productions were taken care of, and making sure they were given good things to look at.
Regarding the community aspect, our focus lies in the work we do within the community, such as engaging with our neighbors, providing internships, collaborating with local schools, and striving to build a pipeline of jobs and opportunities."
Atlanta Film and TV: How does being the greenest studio on Earth set Electric Owl Studios apart from other film and television production facilities?
Dan Rosenfelt: "I think it's an added layer of positivity that matches what our production clients go for and to make their productions as clean as they can. Being a partner with our third-party productions gives us an edge. I hope other studios start infusing their production facilities with the same amenities. But we want to continue to be leaders in the space and continually improve. However, if it's an apples-to-apples situation when making a determination about which studio to go to, and with Electric Owl Studios being a sustainable studio will give us an advantage."
Click below for our conversation
Atlanta Film and TV: What impact will Electric Owl Studios have on job creation and further support for Georgia’s entertainment industry?
Dan Rosenfelt: The more studios, and infrastructure that we have in Georgia, the more jobs are created. We can handle a lot of productions here in the state and if we have proper infrastructure, then movies and tv shows coming to film in Georgia will have a place to land. Often, productions will start looking around the world based on tax incentives and affordability then there are creative elements that they may decide on one way or another. However, often if productions go to certain cities, states, or countries, and sometimes the stages are full. So full that they have to make a decision to go elsewhere, because they need stage space. The more infrastructure that we can have then it will allow productions to film here. And, if there are more productions here, then there are more jobs for crew, ancillary jobs with regard to caterers, coffee shops, and dry cleaners to name a few.
Our employees, vendors and partners at our studio, at our ribbon cutting ceremony I introduced everyone who works with us to thank them for being a part of our team and family, and to showcase that there’s a lot of people involved in making a studio run. Such as landscaping, security, fiber optics, telecomm, furniture, and the list goes on. There are so many jobs and people who can be involved with this industry as we move forward with building studios, and creating productions.
Be sure to follow Electric Owl Studios on Instagram @electricowlstudios
Electric Owl Studios is located at 3693 Redan Road
Atlanta, GA 30083
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