Upcoming “Behind the Lens Awards” Will Celebrate Off-Camera Professionals and Benefit Nonprofit RE:IMAGINEATL

The off-camera professionals being honored are below-the-line film crew – those rarely recognized for the work they do to bring motion pictures and television series to the screen. In addition, RE:IMAGINEATL, a forward-thinking Georgia nonprofit, will receive proceeds from the gala.

The specific below-the-line professionals who will be honored for their contributions include location managers, production supervisors, construction coordinators and transportation coordinators. These and other below-the-line roles are critical in helping execute the creative vision of those “above-the-line,” among them directors, screenwriters, producers and on-screen talent.

“The below-the-line players do so much hard work, and they don’t get recognized enough at the Emmys and Oscars,” says Behind the Lens Awards Chairperson Beth Talbert. The industry veteran began her career in the entertainment industry 25 years ago at 20th Century Fox in Los Angeles, and in recent years she has become an active member of Atlanta’s film community.

“Discover Dunwoody has been recognizing below-the-line workers for the past year on a monthly and quarterly basis,” Talbert says. “We’re going to pull from [their] 2024 honorees for an even bigger award at this event, where there will be approximately six awards presented.”

Additional recognition, as well as contributions, from the Behind the Lens Awards will go to RE:IMAGINEATL, which works to support the future growth of the film industry in Georgia. The nonprofit’s work includes curating and offering educational programs for underrepresented youth who are making their way into the media and entertainment industries, as well as job placement assistance.

Giving back as they’ve been given to, RE:IMAGINEATL’s students also work on a production team that helps other nonprofits in Georgia with their film and media needs.

An entertainment industry veteran and project event manager for the Behind the Lens Awards, Bari Holmes, says she is especially excited that location managers will be recognized in the new annual awards.

“Many people don’t realize what an integral part location managers play in the creativity of a film,” says Holmes. “Location managers have to be multifaceted. They read a script and find three locations for each scene for the creative team to scout before a location is chosen, like a church, for example. And if they don’t have the vision to understand what the set designer is looking for, the whole script doesn’t come to fruition.”

She adds, “If the location doesn’t work and the permit doesn’t go through, the whole production falls through. And [yet], location managers are at the end of the credits on a film.”

Another underappreciated role that Holmes is excited to see the Behind the Lens Awards recognize is travel coordinators. “If a travel coordinator doesn’t secure the right accommodations for crew to sleep, they’re not rested. And they have to be rested to work.”

Circling back to RE:IMAGINEATL, who will get both recognition and an economic boost from the proceeds of the Behind the Lens Awards, Talbert says, “The awards are a great way to recognize their students and let them see these below-the-line jobs, and that they’re so important.”

For everyone who attends the first annual gala event, Talbert adds, “There will also be networking opportunities with people in the industry and drawings for great prizes that we haven’t yet announced.”

In closing, Holmes sums up, “There are so many job titles [that] create a crew – the average is 120 people per production, and every one of them is an integral piece of the puzzle. The Behind the Lens Awards [event] is celebrating people who are unseen.”

To attend the Behind the Lens Awards, purchase tickets here.