Filmmakers against Religious Law

It’s only been one day since Governor Phil Bryant signed off on the Religious Accommodations Act and the law is already affecting businesses all throughout the state. News 25’s Kendra Turley shows us how the new law is impacting our state’s film industry.
Film industry leaders are “closing the curtains” on Mississippi, giving a thumbs down on the state’s passage of the Religious Freedom Bill. Hollywood industry insider Fayr Barkley said, “I woke up early yesterday morning to an email from my entertainment attorney in Beverly Hills who told me Hollywood was done with Mississippi.”
The state, strongly upstaged by a law it says protects the religious rights of residents, but critics say it simply discriminates against the LGBT community. Local attorney Dianne Herman Ellis said, “To send the message to any industry or any business or any person that Mississippi is the same Mississippi we were during Jim Crow just sends the wrong message.”
Over the years, Mississippi has fought to be a prime location for big time movies and production, but with the recent passing of the Religious Freedom Bill, locals in the industry say it not only set the state back, but removed Mississippi out of the equation for good. “The other day we had 12 movies slated for production in Mississippi. Now we have none. So we are getting a huge amount of backlash,” said Barkley.
Ellis says it is disappointing to see a state that’s grown into a southern hot spot for film making so quickly become a flop as film and other businesses threaten to exit the stage in the name of equal rights. “It’s gonna affect the tourism business terribly. It’s gonna affect hotels. It’s gonna affect casinos. It could affect contracts at Ingalls,” said Ellis.
Many in the filmmaking industry are still hoping these exits are more of an intermission rather than a final scene. “That is going to put a lot of people behind the 8-ball financially and force them to have to go somewhere else to earn a living and that’s very, very sad,” said Barkley.