Atlanta Founder Stories: Carolyn Pitt, Esq., Founder of Film Connx
For more than 40 years, Georgia has led the way in engaging the film and television production industry and Film Connx is aiming to disrupt the industry as we know it! Film Connx is a gig marketplace designed to help studios and brands source vetted local crew. This month, Startup Atlanta continues our monthly spotlight series to learn more about Film Connx founder, Carolyn Pitt, Esq.’s Atlanta Founder Story.
Introducing Carolyn Pitt, Esq.:
Originally from Long Island, New York, Carolyn has lived in Atlanta for over 20 years, long enough to cheer for sports teams from both states equally!
Pitt is an Intellectual Property and Entertainment Attorney, and her background also includes management consulting, strategy and business development. When we asked her how long she has been an entrepreneur, she shared the fun fact that she has been an entrepreneur for as long as she can remember.
“I was bitten very early by the entrepreneurial bug: when I was 6 years old, I realized that I could sell seasoned popcorn at a profit to the students on my father’s college campus. I’ve been an entrepreneur ever since.”
Addressing a growing problem for local film crews
The genesis of Film Connx came from Carolyn’s experience working with clients and friends who were frustrated and disadvantaged by the current job placement system in the entertainment industry that repeatedly favors imported LA/NY based crew for productions shooting in busy production hubs like Georgia. She noticed that talented local crew members, women, and creatives of color were seldom considered for roles that would bring them the income, experience, and networks they need to advance their careers, while producers and studios needlessly spend exorbitantly to import production crew. Unhappy with this disparity, she decided to take matters into her own hands by using her unique background and skills to identify inefficiencies within the industry, leverage technology to craft a solution, and assemble the optimal team to deliver it.
Throughout her journey building this startup, Carolyn found that Atlanta is an incredible place to build a business, she even contends that it is the best place in the country for African-American founders to do so. In fact, Carolyn has been able to benefit from a number of Atlanta-based incubators and accelerators while building her company, including Google’s Black Founder Exchange and Atlanta Founder Academy, Atlanta Tech Village’s It Takes A Village, and Goodie Nation’s Intentionally Good. Each of these programs, and the Atlanta startup community at large, played a critical role in providing the support, resources, and community that have been instrumental to her success.
Delivering the mission through a global crisis
Interestingly enough, the team at Film Connx has not pivoted from their initial concept. In fact, the company has expanded Film Connx’s services in reaction to COVID-19. The virus devastated the entertainment industry — all productions immediately halted and hundreds of thousands of workers have been unemployed for many months. Film Connx now provides COVID compliance officers for production sets and they partner with a healthcare organization to provide on-set COVID-19 testing. Carolyn and team are proud that these additional services enable productions to restart as quickly and safely as possible.
Some other exciting news that she shared was that she recently secured a partnership with Sony and with Georgia Production Partnership. Over the last few years, she has also received notable investments from Google and from Beyonce’s Bey Good Foundation. Steadfast on her passion of representing underrepresented founders, last spring Carolyn even addressed the U.S. Senate and House Subcommittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, to advocate for stimulus relief for the film industry and for underrepresented founders.
What’s next for Film Connx
Carolyn and her team at Film Connx look forward to continuing disrupting the entertainment industry in the best ways possible: by ensuring that experienced local crew have access to consistent viable work and helping to level the playing field for women and professionals of color, who are underrepresented in production. We are looking forward to Film Connx’s continued success with additional industry partnerships to be announced very soon as the team continues to grow and scale Film Connx in 2021 and beyond.
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Thanks for sharing your story with us Carolyn! For more exciting stories of the founders that are making our Atlanta startup communtiy so bright, share this story and stay tuned at StartupAtlanta.com
