WEBVTT - Trilith Studios President on Launch of ATL Complex 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.760 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Jason 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:07.560 Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. Let's head down to the A 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:10.280 t L. Check in with our pal, Frank Patterson, President 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.400 and CEO of Trilith Studios. He's been on this program before. 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:18.080 You might know it by its former named Pinewood Atlanta Studios. 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:20.079 He joins us on the phone from the A t L. 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.640 And Frank, Man, you have been busy throughout all of this. 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.160 We were just hearing this morning as we were reading 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.160 in on this about this big plan that you've got 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:33.440 going on, uh, studio City of the East. For sure, 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.840 we knew that this was a big business uh down 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.520 there in my hometown of my home state. But you've 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:43.160 you've got some big plans. Tell us about it. Yeah, Jackson, 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.080 thanks for having me on again. It's good to talk 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:48.040 to himsel again. Yeah. Well, you know, this something we've 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.080 been working on for couple of years. We set out 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:54.200 to create a place built by four members of the 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.120 film and creative industries, a point that has everything we 0:00:57.160 --> 0:00:59.080 need to kind of you know. The dream is to 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:01.840 make anything we can magin and so it's also a 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.160 place where we want to live, you know, have our families, 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.560 race kids, and so yeah, I agree with it's kind 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.160 of a studio city, a contemporary studio city at the 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:15.800 southeast and building upon, of course the success that we've had, uh, 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:20.160 the film production space, but expanding it to include, um, 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:22.520 you know, story and technology and all the makers for 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:24.240 a place for them to live and work and raise 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.199 your families. This is like the Left Wreck Mattel model. 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:29.080 And I bring this up a lot because I lived 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:30.840 you know, Left Wreck City back in that was it 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.959 fifties or's like after the returning World War two vets 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.319 they you know, it's a place to live, to work, 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:38.319 to all those things. And then Left Wrack over here 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:41.240 in actually Jersey City where I live, created a waterfront 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.320 community the whole same idea. You could live there, you 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.280 could work there, you get shop there. Um, is that 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:48.040 what you're going for? Tell me a little bit. This 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.200 is a grand vision. Yeah. I mean, by the way, 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:55.120 my wife, we love that area. We uh yeah, I mean, 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.120 if you think about it, it's really a cluster, right, 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:01.080 It's an industry cluster. You know. Doctor doctor Microporter from 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.200 Harvard's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness has done a lot 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.600 of research in this space and has pointed out how 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.280 these clusters form, and really Atlanta was a great place 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.200 to think about how to cluster around this industry. We 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:15.160 had a head start with a great tax incent of 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:19.080 a history of big innovation, and so with our history 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.000 and the self business, and with the history of Pinewood 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:26.079 uh and these excellent stage facilities, it was really, uh 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.800 we think a smart play to cluster these businesses. We 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.240 have forty uh something business I guess it's close to 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.760 sixty now already clusters down here at the studios and 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.200 in the town. And we feel like as we focus 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.919 our efforts on content and technology companies to grow, we'll 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.639 be at a hundred pretty quickly. But more importantly, it's 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:47.320 a place where you know, creators and technologists and innovators 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.920 can feel at home to create. And that's really the goal. 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.800 And so Frank talk about the content piece of this, 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:56.680 because I feel like when we've talked to you in 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:00.440 the past, um at least I've framed at least, or 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.760 I've thought of you at least as a place where 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:06.200 content creators show up they make their movies. You know, 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.560 you have amazing facilities, But as I understand it and 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:11.480 keep me honest here. You guys are now in the 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:16.160 business of really investing in intellectual property. You you've been 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:20.079 making some acquisitions. That that's a shift, right, Yeah, And 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:22.760 thus the new name and new brand, right, So we 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.160 probably would Atlanta goes the core business with facilities, right, 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.720 and that's our piller, uh, number one pillar business. And 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.519 what we did is we decided that given all the 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.480 teams is going on in the industry and the dramatic 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:38.960 shifts that are happening in the way consumers are consuming 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.360 content and now the demands for content, that we needed 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.600 to add a couple of more pillars of business. And 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.920 one was to focus on investing in content companies and 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.120 to focus on the technology that is necessary to help 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.560 scale the production of that content. And with those news 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.120 free pillars, that's how we came up with Triller, which 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:00.600 is three arms of business, but also happens to be 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:05.320 the structure that you see very commonly in stonehenge. Uh. 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:08.400 We like learning our British history with us. But with 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:11.320 these three new uh, which is three pillars in business, men, 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.360 that sort of makes us sort of uh, you know, 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:17.560 a kind of an old fashioned studio with the addition 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.599 of technology Hey, what about the timing, Frank, because I 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.680 just think it's interesting Jason and I, as you know, Uh, 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.680 we've talked with you before. We love talking about kind 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:30.719 of just real estate usage right now in particular. And 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.640 I was talking with a bunch of executives, global executives 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:35.960 when in London, went over in Asia and China, you know, 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:38.760 and they said, you know, depending on which part of 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:40.840 the market you're in, you're either doing well or you're not, 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.000 or there's opportunities or there or not. So I'm just 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:45.280 curious about the timing for you guys to do all 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:49.080 of this. Well, You've been on a couple of points. One, 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.000 I think we've spoken about this in the past before. 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:53.880 You know, pre COVID, we happen to be in a 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.479 situation where, given all these changes in the way we're 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:02.160 consuming content, Um Wall Street was already pouring more money 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:06.480 into the pipeline for for to the filmmaking pipeline. Then 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.000 we had the capacity to produce in this industry. We 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:12.799 were already falling behind. And then COVID hits and everybody 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.799 decides to go and you know, stuck inside and watch 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.159 all this content on all these platforms, you know, and 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.560 as the joke that the current joke goes. You know, 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:24.480 I've seen Netflix, so what's next? And it's just so 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:28.599 much content that is now needed, Uh, that there's a 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.400 shortage of facilities, there's a shortage of talent capable of 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:33.560 producing content at that kind of scale, and it's a 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:37.080 shortage of the technology that can enable us to do this. 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.960 So we think the timing is perfect. And separate to 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.240 your other point that I think you made, which is 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:46.360 a good point as a real estates plan. Uh, several 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:49.520 big pert venture firms, you know, you and I both 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.080 know big names that have found this kind of real 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.360 estate to be a new class of real estate that 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.040 they want to invest in. And so what I mean of, 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.520 you know, studio facilities in the movie business, and so 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.719 you're seeing a lot of big firms get involved in 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.039 this space, and we think it's a smartness. Can I 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.479 just say I hadn't heard that line. I've seen Netflix, 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.560 What's next? So I'm adding it to Jason and I 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:14.840 through this whole seven months have been just I've been 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.880 keeping track of just fun things that people say. So 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:19.680 I'm adding it to this is my t shirt list, 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:21.520 Like all of these lines could be a T shirt 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:23.480 and then thank you for sharing that one with that's 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.560 in the city of Atlanta and its environs, there is 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.960 something unique, and I say it's because it's my hometown. 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.440 My parents live there, I have many many family members there. 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:39.600 The way that the city has grown both economically and geographically. 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:43.360 I think what you're doing is something of a microcosm 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:46.039 of that, and I do I would love for you 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:47.760 to sort of explain that and sort of how it 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:52.480 fits into the broader Georgia and Atlanta economy and how 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.520 it reflects it. If that makes sense. Yeah, that's great, 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:57.640 and you're right. I do think what we're building is 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.880 a microbub cluster of the larger to that is Atlanta. 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.280 I mean, these kinds of things tend to form if 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:05.640 you sort of back out a little bit. Atlanta as 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.160 a result, like like other cities around the world that 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.880 have been successful at this, it's it's the result of 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:15.080 you know, a sort of business friendly policy environment, of 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:19.400 smart tax policy, of of strong research universities and of 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.400 course produced talent. And of course we have the benefit 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:24.720 of having this kind of global hub of an airport, 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:26.920 the most traveled airport in the world, with all these 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.600 direct flights to important destinations all over the world, and 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.720 I think that combination has has been very helpful for 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:37.280 Atlanta in the spaces that I think it's most famous for, 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:40.560 which is you know, fintech and and sort of all 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:45.280 that Georgia tech research, those kinds of research outcomes, and 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.400 then more recently famous because of the filmer industry. But 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.800 I'll tell you, the film industry has been a part 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.720 of Georgia for a long time. When President Carson was 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:58.520 Governor Carter of of Atlanta, I'm sure you know, Jason. 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.240 You know, we had the first state film office in 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.480 the States, and Governor Carter was making a real play 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.360 for the film and she's back in the seventies, and 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.120 so we had a cool independent thing that grew into 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.800 of course Ted Turner watching what became the media giant 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.040 Turner and then followed, you know, Tyler Perry deciding to 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:19.480 plan a state and say, no, I'm not going to 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:21.320 live and work in the Hollywood. I'm gonna build my 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:25.360 own studio here and so, uh, you know. Mentioning before 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.560 about Dr Porter's research and clusters at the Wonder was 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:32.240 identified as an entertainment media cluster back in the mid nineties, 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.959 you know, globally recognized entertainment media cluster. And so the 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.600 recent tax incentive and the move towards these bigger budget 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:45.360 projects that came around post two thousand eight, I was 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:49.319 really now made it a globally recognized center for creativity. 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:51.640 You know, it's interesting for what think I want to 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:53.960 ask you because years ago I remember doing a piece 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:58.360 specifically about tax incentives for the for Bloomberg Television, about 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:01.000 tax incentives for like the film and to because as 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:03.640 you know, you've seen the stories about where people are like, 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:05.280 why do we give them a break? It really doesn't 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.360 do anything for the economy. What would you say to that, 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:13.080 especially considering what you guys are doing there in Atlanta. Well, 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.600 it's it's all in the devilish details of design. Because 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:18.840 you know, I was I'm only three years in this 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:22.800 market place and my studio I left, which we have 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.360 built in San Francisco to build digital humans. Atlanta wasn't 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.640 on my radar, and I met the folks at Palmwood, 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.600 became excited about it, and the first thing I did 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.400 was to look up the tax policy. Because I've been 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.920 a part and have served other governors in other states 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:43.760 who's had tax incentives, but they just weren't well written UH, 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:47.000 and they weren't really meant that you could tell they 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:51.760 were sort of temporary or not very thoughtful in their approach, 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:55.840 and it resulted in sort of temporary tax um incentives. 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:58.240 But whoever did this and I quite figured out who 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:00.480 the parties were that all came together to to make 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:05.040 this work. It is the best written tax policy for 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:07.360 taxing centers in the United States, and by the way, 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:11.760 it's the second most attractive tax incentive in the United States. 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:16.280 And importantly, it was really focused on building the economy 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:23.679 in Georgia and you know, injecting directly UH jobs and 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:28.080 high paying jobs to Georgians and in a way that 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.280 you know, we were credited with partially being one of 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:36.960 the key um UH industries bringing UH the Georgia economy 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.920 out of trouble in two thousand and eight, and we 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.440 are seen as an important player now as we try 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.720 to get back out of trouble as a result of covered. 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.200 So it depends on what you know. Not all tax 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.640 incentives are created equally. For one in Georgia is very 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:54.240 smart and it's been quite powerful for the state of Georgia. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.200 A great answer to that. Yeah, so, Frank, only about 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:59.640 a minute left, but just give us one minute on 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.520 sort of state of production and where you are as 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:07.640 as we worry continually about this second wave. Yeah, well, 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:09.240 I think the last time you and I spoke, we 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:11.000 were working real hard and figuring out how to get 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.679 everybody back to work safely. Uh, And we put a 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:17.320 lot into that, and we've had a big fortune of 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:21.160 coming up with some systems that, uh, the industry is 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:25.880 excited about. We've gotten. Um, we're probably back up to 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:29.560 about fifty of where we were, and I think in 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:33.280 the next six weeks will be close to a uh. 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:37.640 And so we've got I've got hundred people badging on 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.520 a lot today and UM, you know, we're it's it's 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.880 we're slower. Uh, we're having to be a lot more careful. 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.600 There are a lot more new systems to consider. The 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:51.040 exciting weid news is we're putting people back to work 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:53.640 so we can make movies that people are looking forward 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.400 to see. Well, we certainly are looking forward to see him. 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.040 And I can't wait to come visit and see everything 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.520 that you're up to. Patterson. Thank you so much, President 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.480 CEO of Trilith Studios joining us on the phone from 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:08.400 the A t L. So much going on Lanta is awesome.