Georgia Tied For No. 3 in the World For Film Production

FilmL.A., a not-for-profit film office serving the Los Angeles region, has released a new report that says only California and the United Kingdom produce more feature films than Georgia and Louisiana.

The 2015 Feature Film Production Study analyzes a sample of 109 U.S. feature films released theatrically last year, identifying where they were filmed and how much was spent to produce them.

In terms of project count, California’s top competitors were the UK (15 projects), Georgia & Louisiana (12 projects) and Canada (11 projects).

New York, which had ranked second in the 2014 Feature Film Production Study with 13 projects, fell out of the top five production centers in 2015 with seven projects.

Georgia's film industry has made national headlines over the last several months. Earlier this year, the Georgia General Assembly passed a controversial religious liberty bill that would have allowed faith-based groups to refuse services or terminate employees based on sexual orientation.

However, under pressure from several Hollywood studios and businesses, Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed the bill.

AMC, which airs and produces the primarily Georgia-lensed "The Walking Dead," joined an entertainment-industry chorus calling for Deal to veto the proposal. Disney and its Marvel Studios also said they would stop filming movies in Georgia if Deal signed the bill.

Georgia's film industry has an economic impact of $3.1 billion to the state.