by MeLinda Schnyder
The sign on the left says, “Welcome to Mystic Falls, Virginia.” Turn your head to the right and another sign delivers: “Welcome to Sparta, Mississippi.”
Welcome to what’s actually Covington, Georgia, near Atlanta—also known as the Hollywood of the South or more whimsically, Y’allywood.
A diverse landscape of urban, rural, mountainous and coastal locations along with tremendous tax credits have lured television and film productions to Georgia in increasing numbers. What this means for tour groups: there’s a good chance to catch filming happening while in the area (typically as many as 30 productions filming each month), and many operators in and around Atlanta are offering tours for fans to geek out over their favorite classic movies as well as today’s most binge-worthy TV series.
Covington tours
Film tours are the biggest product in Covington, population 14,000, though they leave time for tour-goers to explore the shops and restaurants on the town’s bustling square. Mystic Grill is group-friendly and serves delicious new Southern cuisine, plus there’s a gift shop with a free costume museum in the basement. The restaurant has its own Hollywood backstory: it opened in 2014 in the building on the square that was being used for exterior shots of the fictitious Mystic Grill on The Vampire Diaries.
Step-on tours with a trained representative from the Visitor Information Center highlight the history and filming locations in the area that span decades. For vampire stalkers, Mystic Falls Tours has permission from private homeowners to take groups to residences used in the shows, including exclusive access to go onto the property of the infamous Lockwood Mansion. Mysticfallstours.com
Atlanta Movie Tours
Atlanta Movie Tours have nearly a dozen options between the metro area and the town of Senoia, 40 miles south of downtown Atlanta. Guides are experienced actors who share behind-the-scenes stories they pick up while working on the sets they are showing groups. Tour-goers will see a clip, visit the spot where it was filmed and hear fun facts about how it happened.
More than 1,200 movies and TV shows have been filmed in Atlanta, from The Hunger Games to many of the recent Marvel films. Atlanta Movie Tours is one of the longest operating tour providers. They offer walking tours, step-on tours or operate their own 12- and 30-seat buses. Atlantamovietours.com
Georgia Tour Company
Many of Georgia Tour Company’s guides have worked on the set of “The Walking Dead” as an extra or live in Senoia, a town of 4,200. There are also big screen locations to see, souvenir shops and restaurants.
“Senoia is like a living backlot,” said Julie Brown, owner of the Georgia Tour Company. “On our tours we’ll ask who was dragged here by someone else and usually by the end of the tour those are the people saying they can’t wait to go back home and watch the show.” georgiatourcompany.com
Plan a movie tour
Orbitz’s “Discover the World On Screen’’ (www.orbitz.com/features/world-on-screen/map/) lets you click on a location or search out a movie or television show you are interested in and find everything from a recap of the show, recommendations for where to stay and eat, how to get around and specific directions for filming locations. You can filter the map by movie or television genre, such as adventure or comedy, as well as by type of trip you want to plan, such as beach holiday or road trip.
