Abrams: Movie Industry Should Stay In Georgia, Fight Abortion Law

ATLANTA, GA — Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will meet with film executives June 11 in Los Angeles about the film and TV industries' waning support in light of Georgia's new anti-abortion “heartbeat” law, The Atlantic Journal-Constitution reported Monday.

Gov. Brian Kemp has postponed a visit to Hollywood to meet with film executives threatening TV and film work in Georgia.

Abrams, however, confirmed her upcoming meeting with Hollywood execs on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes" news program Tuesday night, where she said she thinks, rather than leave Georgia, filmmakers should stay and fight the law's implementation.

"The state of Georgia has 92,000 employees in the film industry, $9.5 billion in economic impact," she said. "We have a governor who, unfortunately, has not only refused to go to Hollywood, but is actually refusing to respond to requests from 15 of the largest companies in Georgia involved in the film industry.

"My goal is very simple, I want to protect jobs in Georgia," she told Hayes. "I want to protect women in Georgia. Having built relationships, not only with the film industry, but with other industries that are here in Georgia, I was asked to come and have a conversation about what the bill does, what the bill means, and how we can best support women and the film industry. And I'm there to provide information."

The latest production company rethinking its Georgia ties is AMC, which films "The Walking Dead" in Senoia.

"I support and understand the emotional and political pulls of a boycott call," she said. "I grew up in the deep South and boycotts have long been a part of how civil rights have advanced. But we also have to have a long-term understanding of what's happened.

"Republicans have spent the last 40 years building a narrative, but also building the capacity to push these bans across the country. And simply taking away jobs is not going to solve the fundamental problem of political power. So my intention is to stay and fight, to build the political power, to not only fight back against these bans and fight back against forced pregnancy but to build the political capacity, to not have to have this fight again for 40 more years.

"We are at an inflection point in the country where the power to make progress is real, but we have to have the investment and foresight and the strategy to bring it to fruition," she told Hayes.