Some business-minded folks in Georgia might be a little nervous after some left-leaning media types threatened to boycott the state over a heartbeat abortion bill. Lots of movies and television shows are filmed in Georgia because of the favorable tax benefits there.
The call went out among Hollywood elite and production companies that Georgia must be punished--financially, but not only financially--for seeking to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. How dare the state make such a move?
Netflix and Disney (which have invested quite a bit of resources in Georgia) made note that the companies might end up boycotting the state completely. There was to be a show of solidarity among the Hollywood elite to let these pro-life Southerners know who's boss.
But it seems not everyone got the boycott memo. Or at least, someone got the memo, set it on fire and used it to light his cigar. WXIA reported one Clint Eastwood will be returning to Atlanta this summer to start production on his new movie called The Ballad of Richard Jewell.
Mr. Eastwood may have had us scratching our heads when he talked to an empty chair in 2012, but when it comes to movies, he has a pretty good sense of how this stuff works. If he thinks the financial benefits of filming in Georgia outweigh any virtue signaling that'd be accomplished by him moving production elsewhere, it'll be hard to change his mind.
Actually, we can't really imagine anyone successfully changing the self-described libertarian's mind. It doesn't seem like anyone tells The Man With No Name what to do. And if any members of the Hollywood elite want to try and shame Mr. Eastwood out of crossing the abortion picket line, they need to ask themselves: "Do I feel lucky?"
Editorial on 07/31/2019