Lee Thomas announced she is retiring as the Deputy Commissioner of the Georgia Film Office.
The office works to market the state to more than 4,850 motion picture industry businesses and production-related companies.
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Lee, a native Atlantan and NYU Tisch School of the Arts alumna, has made significant strides in Georgia’s film industry, ascending from project manager to Director at the Georgia Film and Videotape Office. Her journey, which began in 1996, as a project manager. She advanced to the position of Location Specialist in 1998 and became Director in 2010.
Thomas has worked with hundreds of Georgia-lensed films and TV. Some of her most well-known works include “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Ozark,” “The Staircase,” “Hidden Figures,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “The Blind Side,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” and “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” among others.
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Governor Nathan Deal, former Gov. of Georgia, described Thomas as “one of the real-life heroes working behind the scenes to see that the world’s leading filmmakers choose Georgia.”
In 2019, Lee earned the title of “Georgian of the Year” from Georgia Trend for her role in guiding, strengthening, and enhancing Georgia’s film industry. During her leadership in the position, Georgia has become the top filming location in the world, with a direct spend of $4.4 billion by the industry during fiscal year 2022.
This was a new record for the state. Georgia grew from having 45,000 square feet of stage space in 2010 to having more than 3 million square feet of purpose built and retrofitted stage space in 2022. According to the office, an additional 4+ million square feet of space is expected to come online in the next two years.
“Some people leave a legacy so significant that you simply can’t let them retire without saying thank you,” Commissioner for Georgia Department of Economic Development Pat Wilson said. “She understood that every production represented opportunity: an opportunity for a Georgian to build a career, for a small business to grow, and for a community to prosper. Because of her leadership, countless lives have been changed, families have found new opportunities, and communities across Georgia are stronger today.”
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