Program helps crew bring zombie commercial to county
By: Staff Reports
Cherokee Tribune
Cherokee County got its own invasion of the walking dead last weekend when a short film about zombies was shot in the rural Salacoa community north of Waleska.
The Cherokee Office of Economic Development made the announcement that Exit Left Media and TAPCO, a Georgia firearms accessories company, produced the short film and commercial using the state’s Camera Ready Program.
The marketing firm shot the film Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on location on the Bennett and Cox farms in the Salacoa Valley, one of the most remote regions of the community.
The commercial is about a group of survivors from a zombie invasion held up in the farmhouse, having an epic and victorious battle with the zombies using TAPCO products.
COED has fielded a total of 20 inquiries through Georgia’s Camera Ready Program this year alone.
“We were pleased to find a location in our database that fit the requirements for this commercial,” said Misti Martin, president of the Cherokee Office of Economic Development. “Our office has been very busy with scouts for major motion pictures as well as directors for independent films and commercials. We hope to continue to raise awareness that Cherokee County is a great place for film and video productions.”
The short film is on the cutting edge of an evolution in marketing and advertising, Martin said, pointing out that corporate-sponsored branded entertainment has officially arrived in Georgia.
The director for the project was Jason Winn, the award-winning director of the feature “The Fat Boy Chronicles,” released by Melee Entertainment, a movie adapted from the acclaimed teen novel now in bookstores.
Winn praised Georgia’s Camera Ready Program for its ease in locating the perfect site for the commercial.
He also thanked the Cherokee Office of Economic Development and the County’s Development Service Center for helping coordinate the project and helping make sure permitting went seamlessly.
“In looking for locations I contacted many counties in the camera ready directory. We very quickly found that Cherokee County had exactly what we needed and they made the process painless,” Winn said in a release.
Several locals, including members of the Bennett family, participated in the commercial as zombies.
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