The Story of a Location Scout
Georgia Department of Industry, Trade & Tourism, 1990- 1998
Public Relations & Locations Specialist
Albert B.Cooper IV
My amazing journey into film, theater, music, world culture & working for the government
Visionaries, Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter kick start Film Biz in Georgia
1971
Newly elected Governor Jimmy & Roselynne Carter go to Holly wood to invite filmmakers to Georgia.
The new Governor & the 1st Lady travel to LA with my neighbor , Xernona Clayton & make stops in New York City, to pitch Georgia as a filming location.
After the success of Burt Reynolds 1972 film, "Deliverance",
Carter in 1973, starts the Georgia Film Commission . Little did i know, one day,
I would work in the Georgia Film Commission office 7 spend 8 years as a leison.
2 extraordinary people from small town Georgia, change our world. God Bless the Jimmy & Roselynn Carter. Thank You.
Link from Atlanta News First article
Nov 20, 2023
https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/11/21/how-carters-brought-hollywood-hustle-georgia/
Xernona Clayton 1st woman on Georgia Film Commission Board
1973
Xernon Clayton was an influencer before the word became the cheap mashup it is today. And Jimmy & Roselynn Carter listened to her as a trusted & wise advisor.
Thank God for that.
She was a trail blazer in media from the "Westside" and she was my neighbor.
In 1968,
I used to walk through her yard on Cativo Dr. off Payton Rd on the way to my girlfriend, Carmen Banks house.
Xernon was a celebrity in our neoghborhood in the 60's, but our neighborhood was full of extraordinary folks. She worked in the media and at that time few black folk worked in TV or film as a full time job.
Atlanta was still the country , the old South. But amongst the many trail blazers on the Westside of Atlanta, Xernona stood out in a field non of us knew anything about except for the 3 TV channels we had, & they went off the air @ 12 midnight.
Jimmy & Roselynn and Xernona saw that future. And they stepped fully into it.
Now that, is an influencer mix that paid off.
See her interview on the link in the previous story about Governor Jimmy Carter.
Appointed to Governors Film Board
1990.
Albert B. Cooper appointed by Governor Joe Frank Harris, to the State of Georgia Governor's Film board, to help develop film industry in Georgia.
Here with wife Michelle.
I became the 2nd person from the "Westside" on the Governors Board.
Norm Bielowicz
Director of the Georgia Film Commission
1985-1997
Norm is a big reason for the success of film business in Georgia today. He is unheralded, but loved by many for doing a great job with so few resources while heading the department in the 1990's.
He hired me, & was my boss 1990-1997. His smarts, tireless work ethic, warm smile, and insightful hiring (Mike, Greg & Me) made all the difference in the Georgia Film Office being one of the top Offices in the country. Scoring big wins getting Forrest Gump, Glory, Fried Green Tomatoes, My Cousin Vinnie (my Show).
to film in Georgia.
On the left in photo is the current Director of the Georgia Film Commission , Lee Thomas.
Thanks Norm, you changed my life, and the lives of many.
Wish I had a better photo.
Read this..& Go take photos
Movie Scripts from Top Studios, Agencies & producers
1990-1998
We read real Printed scripts, received and were assigned the scripts from all the major studios, agencies, writers & producers in Hollywood.
All the best in the business.
Some days I was reading 2 or 3 scripts to find what their location needs are. Then I would put a photo package of prints together taken from our database of negatives. We had file cabinet full of negatives.
Once selected & packaged we Fed-x the box to the client.
at the end of the year, we would have maybe 100 or more scripts that we to move out of the office, so we boxed them & sent to archives or the trash.
I took a few boxes to CAU Mass Comm depart., never knew what happened to them.
1990's High Tech Communication
1990-1998
Everybody Had to have a pager.
So you would know who was trying to contact you.
Get a page, find a phone, return the call. High tech Baby!!
1990's Film Commission Cell Phone
1990-1998
When this cell phone, ( we called it The Brick) got pulled out , we knew it was a special movie.
Used only for the Top Studio producers, directors & feature films.
The big money
movies.
Makes sense, it was State government paying the huge bill. And we were lucky to get 2-3 movies and a sprinkle of TV movies year.
Michael Schultz, working with a theater / film legend from day 1
1990
"Livin Large"
Living Large. I spent 3 weeks with director Michael Schultz.
Showing my City to a legendary black director, with connections to the Negro Ensemble Company in NYC, movies Carbon Copy, Car Wash, Cooley High & Georgia movies, Together for Days, Greased Lighting, this scout was a special opportunity. I felt honored to be the Ga Film Commission representative for the project.
Got to revisit & work on Auburn Ave with the Black business owners who knew my grandfather, Dr.A.B.Cooper, who had a dentist office in the Odd Fellows building on Auburn Ave from 1930-1960's.
Livin' Large, Micheal Schultz director
Working with Michael Schultz and legendary Producer David V. Picker , I set up the movie. I pre scouted & picked locations, made introductions, & did all the final pick scouting with Michael & David. Alone, just me & them in a car or van.
The experience turned out to be foreshadowing of things to come, film production wise.
A big problem come up, with the Location fees for filming offered to the business owners on Auburn Ave.
They were angry and very vocal about how their concerns were being addressed.
The white Location Manager was in the Hot seat & I was asked to mediate the situation.
So at a big meeting in the Silver Moon Barber Shop, Oldest Black barbershop in Atlanta, (founded 1908) & steps from the Royal Peacock & the Oddfellows Building ( My Grandfathers office was there)
We met.
Sitting in the well worn barber chair & listening to both sides of the conversation , I felt the strange sensation of floating. I realized, I was in a position of being a product of the Auburn community as well as a newly appointed State Representative.
Crossroads = Growth.
The City of Atlanta in 1990, had no such person, policy or office to address neighborhood film
Issues, so the Ga Film Office invented the process. I became A COMMUNITY LIAISON.
My suggestion to the filmmakers, pay the business owners a fair location fee for use of their property & for inconvenience. That was agreed to. The dispute settled, it busted the Location Managers meager budget, he looked foolish, and got fired.
His assistant, Jamal Henry, a Clark College student I mentored, got promoted & became the
1st Black location Manager in Atlanta on feature films.
My Cousin Vinny. How to cook Grits & an Academy Award
1991
I was just a year into working at the film commission, but i had a good grasp of what was needed to do a great job.
I was assigned this script , picked up the director , Johnathan Lynn from the airport , along with writer Dale Launer & we drove the back roads of Georgia for 3 weeks. Monticello was the best courthouse & town, also used was Bostwick & Eatonton.
I found the director, producer homes in Reynolds Plantation at Lake Oconee.
They stayed in the 1st houses built on the property.
1992, Marisa Tomei won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in My Cousin Vinny. And I had to tell the director & writer the proper way To Cook Grits.
They had it completely wrong in the original script. Thank you very much..
Arrested Development
Everyday People
1992
I was Helping Jamal Henry with Locations for the hottest Rap group in The country,
Arrested Development.
And they needed a place in the country so I sent them to Senoia Ga.There was a barn I knew about right in downtown Senoia. They found it & filmed in it,
Spelman Visit. Back to Where we started
1992
Samuel L.Jackson, Bill Nunn, Kenny Leon & A.B.Cooper @ Rockefeller Theater, Spelman College.
This is an import photo for the mere fact that all of us in the photo are fully employed in our careers. Working in film in the 90's.
I am in the photo as a friend 1st, but also I am an official Georgia Film Office representative everywhere i go.
Samuel L. Jackson & Bill Nunn were working actors doing back to back movies all over the world. And And Kenny Leon was the 1st black Artistic Director of Atlanta's Alliance Theater. Our main stage theater.
Morehouse , & Clark artist , visiting the Spelman College theater where we started 20 years before. We put in the work & are actually living the life we imagined.
And despite our careers taking off, Atlanta & Hollywood couldn't care less.
Tyler Perry talks about it in this article in Bloomberg this week. 10/19/2023
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-10-04/tyler-perry-studios-aspires-to-turn-atlanta-into-a-movie-hotbed#xj4y7vzkg
At least my friends left Atlanta & got work. Ask me what it's like to not leave, to stay. A Blunt awaking even in 2023.
Fortunately Tyler , & the fellas had better plans.
Greg Torre & Mike Riley, my Location Scout Life mentors
Greg & Mike are responsible for guiding, setting the example for my education as a location scout & manager.
Greg as a coworker & my boss at the Ga Film commission & Mike as my boss on several movies, including "Remember the Titans".
Their professionalism, kindness, sure footed work ethic set the tone for & guided me in my Location Career as a Scout & Manager. Teachers they were.
Greg Torre became the Deputy Commissioner, Ge Department of Economic Development. Mike Riley was the Location Manager of the wildly successful
series, "The Walking Dead'.
Both retired now.
They were the best teachers, to this C student.
Blessed to call them friends.
The Georgia Film Office Peachtree Center
Part of Georgia Industry, Trade & Tourism, Economic Development Office. One of 5 in the USA.
It seemed simple & no big deal, but it was serious business for the State. Norm Bielowicz was serious.
And I now had the unique opportunity to talk to producers & directors & make Crew Recomendations.
Which meant a black man could include black crew people in the recommends.I could get people hired.
And I was Fair to everyone. The way I was brought up to be. Which changed the dynamic & pissed off some of the local old guard "gatekeepers". But by being fair, I found some incredible talent who I will highlight in this story. There's a new term for that now. Diversity ?
This photo is of Robert Townsend with our office crew. Robert & I were scouting for B.A.P.S staring Hallie Barry.
He asked me to take him to places he could get Shot! So I took him to The Bluff, North Ave. & Chestnut to meet the heroin dealers.
And they Almost shot us, but saw who Robert was & we had a great visit.
Once, I was in a State helicopter scouting north Ga.mountains for the movie "Last of the Mohicans" when the copter hit a live wire above Tallulah Gorge & blew the bottom out of the Copter. We landed safely but started a huge forest fire that burned the Gorge to a crisp.
Big Trouble.
But we were crazy filmmakers, so we patched the big hole under the pilots feet with cardboard & duck tape, & flew the crippled bird back to Charlie Brown airport.
Needless to say, all the State of Georgia pilots would joke with me when i went to fly again. "Boy you know you pos' to be dead".
Then they would grab me & rub my head for good luck.
I worked here 8 yrs 1990-1998.
Trespass
Another day at work.
On Set in 1992.
Trespass, directed by Walter Hill, (in sweatshirt) written by Robert Zemeckis. Stars were Bill Paxton & the "2 Ices", Ice Cube & Ice T.
As soon as i started working at the Georgia Film Commission I had direct access to the top directors, producers, writers in the industry. They sought our services so we spend many hours together, scouting, having lunch , dinner & telling stories.
On this movie I had helped find the main locations @ Old Fulton Bag & Cotton Mill,(Cabbage Town Mill), which was a pigeon poo filled derelict mess. But I did my job, filmmakers loved it, i was cool, so I had access to visit the set & step straight to the director & producer.
Samuel L.Jackson & Ellis "Skeeter" Williams were in town and Walter Hill wanted to meet Samuel Jackson, so I took Sam & Skeeter for a quick meetup with the director, while he was filming.
Sam was Hot because of Spike's film, Jungle Fever award wins & Sam winning Best Supporting Actor @ Cannes Film Festival.
Film magic was happening in Atlanta & nobody paid much attention.
Notable Crew;
Barry K. Thomas, Drew Ponder,Bobby Vazquez, Dan Cornwall, Greg Morse, Wayne Parker, Mike Smith, Karen Davis &
Mike Akins as a Best Boy Grip.
Diana Ross is a Cooper
1994.
A Film commission Rep works with producers, directors, and locations scouts everyday.
Some requests are to work with script writers that are Developing a script.
A well know screen writer, Barbara Turner, was sent to Atlanta to develop a script for a Diana Ross TV movie. I would get the assignment if Black storylines or Black history was the theme & I loved doing those projects.
Ross was to play a Pre med student who develops Paranoid Schizophrenia.
So I spent 2-3 weeks with Barbara doing interviews in private psychiatric hospitals,
out-patient clinics, & City & State Psychiatric facilities.
WOW! What an education.
Barbara also wanted interview a black family to get insights into black family life. Barbara decided she wanted to interview my grandmother, Ann Nixon Cooper, since we had 6 doctors in our family.
When i got the final script from Barbara, she had written Diana's character as Paulie Cooper. With Beah Richards as Mrs. Cooper, what a tribute. And I got a signed script too.
In 1995, Diana Ross received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries, Made for Television Movies for her stand out performance in Out Of Darkness.
Barbara Turner also received a 1995 Humanitas Prize nomination.
Fled
1996, Kevin Hooks director. With Lawrence Fishburne, & Stephen Baldwin.
Whitman Mayo, from Sanford & Sons had joined me that day. He was a a serious brother & skilled actor.
Helicopter Scouting is real Scouting
The Georgia Industry, Trade & Tourism, Economic Development Office was powerful department.
We had access to state helicopters & the the Governor's Jet. Which i have also flown on.
At 1500 -2500 feet in the air, you get a different prospective of the world. The world gets smaller.
Once, I was in a State helicopter scouting north Ga.mountains for the movie "Last of the Mohicans" when the copter hit a live wire above Tallulah Gorge & blew the bottom out of the Copter. We landed safely but started a huge forest fire that burned the Gorge to a crisp.
Big Trouble.
But we were crazy filmmakers, so we patched the big hole under the pilots feet with cardboard & duck tape, & flew the crippled bird back to Charlie Brown airport.
Needless to say, all the State of Georgia pilots would joke with me when i went to fly again. "Boy you know you pos' to be dead".
Then they would grab me & rub my head for good luck.
Actually, the 1st time I flew on a helicopter was for
C & S Bank, in 1976. They had me take photos of their branch banks from the air.
Georgia's Electric Chair Jackson State Prison
1995
Yes , I have been there. The Film Commission had scouting access to everyplace in the state. Including the horrific places.
Viewing Georgia's electric chair was one of the most sobering moments I have every experienced.
God Bless the children.
Planet Hollywood
in Atlanta
Hollywood dun come to da South. Movie Stars Everywhere !!! Praise Baby Jesus.
You shoulda seen 'em. City went crazy. Tickets were hard to get. Politicians were fawning.
And I had a front row seat. Sam invited me to go with him.
I know people still hate me, cause I walked the Red Carpet with Samuel L. Jackson.
Arnold, Charlie, Whoopie, Bruce were all in attendance.
Wheel of Fortune @ The Fabulous Fox
Vanna White. During the 1996 Olympics I was the Film Office liaison for the Wheel of Fortune with Pat Sajak & Vanna at the Fox Theater.
Johnny Carson's brother Dick Carson was the director.
We had a blast finding remote locations & hanging out.
I got free tickets for my mother & her friends and they thought i was the Cat's Meow for the hook-up.
Atlanta Olympics
1996
The film office was dead. No movies were coming in because of the Olympics taking over everything.
So I asked Director of the Georgia Film Office, Norm Bielowicz, if I could take a job woking on the Olympics. He said "sure it's dead here at the office. take a month.
So I got a job being the Transportation Coordinator for the Main Stage Talent.
It's the stage where the bomb exploded killing a lady.
I had just left the stage 10 minutes before the bomb went off.
I hired the crew, dealt with the arrogant attitudes of the LA producers of the Stage show, got all the big time security clearances & badges, did a great job, wrapped and jumped on a jet & flew to Germany to see my girlfriend
Yin Yang Cafe
Life Change & Love
The Yin Yang Cafe is where I hung out in the mid 90's. Neo Soul with a European Vibe was amazing.
Thank you Reggie Ealy, Andre Zarka , & Paul Sobin & WCLK for Ken Beatty & Jamal Ahmed.
I met my German girlfriend, Anna Katrine, there
and went to Germany for the 1st time. We were in love for 2 years & it was a magical time.
Bill Nunn, Kenny Leon & many other actors & filmmaker
hung out with me on Thursdays for Chocolate Soul shows in Yin Yang.
Will Packer & Rob Hardy Call me for assistance
1998
Straight outta Floridia A & M, (where my aunt & uncle were professors).
They had produced a small film & were producing their 1st big budget movie in Atlanta.
"Trois"
They wanted to be pros, and needed insight & advice on how the "pros" make movies. Info on crew, equipment & the lay of the land for filming in Georgia.
I personally recommended many of the crew they hired.I gave them the best info I had, treated them like professionals and the rest is history.
Just doing my tax payer provided job.
Reversing the Negative
Monty Ross created the 1996, Clark Atlanta University Film Festival .
L-R, John Amos, Monty, Bill Nunn, Ken Sagoes, Whitman Mayo, Bill Duke & Charles Mills & Albert B. Cooper.
We Are the World Visit & MJ's armpit
As Film Office Rep, I was asked by a producer to be an escort for a big event she was putting together.
She wanted Pam Poitier & I be the Official escort into the Omni Arena for President Jimmy Carter & Michael Jackson.
What?
Micheal had come to Atlanta to support Jimmy Carter's Atlanta Project Immunization Drive. A State government progam design to address life saving Health issues in the Black community.
The producers had Middle & elementary school kids from around Atlanta gather on stage to do a little chorus of Michaels hit song "We Are The World".
In the audience Jimmy & Michael sat watching , waving their hands & smiling in a show of support for the kids who were lip syncing to Michael's "" sound track..
But the real story was more personal, for me.
Fist it was cool, Pam & I meet the President & Michael backstage & ushered them slowly into the arena. Just the 4 of us. No security.
Once through the backstage curtain, the spotlight hit us, & the clamor of 35 thousand Michael Jackson fans was like standing in front of a stadium speaker. Deafening. A superstar is amongst us.
And the tickets to see him were Free.
As we walked slowly in front of our honored guests, we entered the arena. And as we walked by the stands, to my right I saw a sea of shaking hands. Like fluttering wings in the wind.
They wanted Micheal to come touch their hands.
Hundreds of hands.
And Michael apparently wanted to let fans touch his hand.
So he suddenly turned, put one hand on my shoulder to brace himself, and stuck his arm over my head for the adoring fans to touch.
A Mad house ensued. Screaming & gosling just a foot away from my back had me confused as to what to do.
With Michaels quick move & reach up, i froze not know what he was doing, and I suddenly found myself, under Michael's armpit!
Him being so much taller than me, i was just a human shield for him to reach over.
So In the bright spotlight of the moment, with 35 thousand people watching, I was the guy who had Michael Jacksons armpit, In My Face.
My Life...A trip..
Eventually I came to my senses, stepped to the side & we moved on.
Afterwards all my friends laughed at me & asked, "what did it smell like?"
I told them i got the distinct aroma of Mum's, the womens deodorant & sweat.
Shelly Garrett
A magic man of theater
This article was copied from the Philadelphia Sun,
May 2018 after Shelly's death;
"He took the traditional “upper-class” theatrical art form and presented it in such a way that not only regular theatergoers lined-up around the block to see his shows, but literally millions of people all across America, whom had never seen a stage play before, came-out of their comfortable homes to see his productions, which began the national theatre craze of touring stage productions.
Experts have estimated more than four million people saw Garrett’s historical “Beauty Shop,” stage play, which still holds box office records in more than 55 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Oakland, San Diego, Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, Newark and 40 more American cities.
Garrett has received ‘Keys To The City’ from 23 American cities and more than 25 city and state proclamations, plus numerous plaques, trophies and awards; more than even he can count. What an accomplishment!
In 1992, he received an honorary and prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame Star." Tyler Perry said, after seeing Shelly Garrett’s “Beauty Shop” in 1990 at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans, it gave him great inspiration to become a playwright.
Shelly Garrett's Living Room & Tiller Perry gets rich
I'm writing about Shelly because this is an Atlanta story. Shelly Garrett inspired Tyler Perry. But also because at some point while working at the Ga Film Commissionwe crossed paths.
Again it was serendipity.
I remember scouting in Fayetteville.I ran across a subdivision I liked called Dix Lee On,
just across from Evander Holyfield's mansion .
As I looked around, stopped at one house & was amazed. There in the circular driveway., sat a shiny a Rolls Royce Well I was very Intrigued.
So,I knocked on the door and found out Shelly Garrett owned the home. I was talking to Shelly Garrett himself. We briefly talked about doing theater, movie making & film production. And he was very interested in the subject. I think I got a phone number , but nothing came of it.
But Tyler Perry was ready for what Shelly had.
Tyler took what he saw Shelly do, honed his theater script & his Madea character, toured doing his plays, made video tapes & sold them in beauty shops, & got rich.Then he took some of the millions he made & in 2005, Tyler filmed his 1st movie. "Diary of a Mad Black Woman". Boom! He was off to the races.
I was hired to do the locations for the movie, but it didn't work out.
Too bad for me.
But now we know the whole story.
Tyler is the poster boy /man for an overlooked Atlanta artist. But he showed 'em. He became a Billionaire. Nuff said.