INTERVIEW: “Pivot is the Name of the Game”: CineVantage’s Honnie Korngold on Georgia Film's Secret to Survival

Honnie Korngold, founder of CineVantage

Honnie Korngold has worn many hats. She’s the founder of Athens-based production company CineVantage, along with workforce development nonprofit PhilanthroFilms and the Georgia Storylab creator hub. As she’s watched the film industry shift, sink, and soar over the years, this producer learned a crucial lesson that’s kept her afloat: the important of pivoting.

Originally from Los Angeles, Korngold got her start in travel events, orchestrating destination cruises and at-sea gatherings. These excursions inspired a radio program, “Travel With Spirit,” that aimed to expand listeners’ horizons and encourage them to see the world. Networks quickly caught wind of the show and proposed expanding it to the screen. The TV version of Travel With Spirit aired for seven seasons, capturing everywhere from Belize to Turkey. “I found producing, in many ways, was very similar to doing the large [travel] event thing,” Korngold explained, “because it’s a lot about herding cats. The mechanics of it felt really, really similar.” As Travel With Spirit came to a close, Korngold used her newfound television knowledge to produce content for the show’s advertisers. She quickly moved to the documentary and feature film space, and that’s where she’s been ever since.

Heading into the 2020s, Korngold left California to break ground on a studio in South Georgia. The state’s film scene was already booming further north, but local investors recommended this untapped area due to its proximity to the Florida-Georgia line. Florida did not offer a tax incentive for filmmakers, which meant our economy could get an influx of artists from the Sunshine State. Korngold and her husband purchased 112 acres to build a series of soundstages, and they had just selected their primary contractor when their dreams came to a screeching halt. Delays from the pandemic and strikes put a major pause on projects everywhere—according to Korngold, studio space in Georgia went from a year-plus waitlist to near vacancy. It’d be too risky to move forward.

Rather than heading back to LA, the Korngolds returned to the drawing board. They opted to relocate to Athens, a move that Korngold described as “a breath of fresh air.” Renowned for its historic arts scene, the town was dripping with the energy she’d been searching for. In her words, Athens is “wired for creativity,” making it the ideal home for the producer’s collaborative projects. “When you have a community like that, it feeds every other part of the arts,” Korngold shared. “Being in a community that has a creative heartbeat and DNA like Athens just does my soul good.”

Athens (and Georgia as a whole) was a “culture shock” compared to Korngold’s career out west. “In California—and LA in particular—everyone is very fearful of collaborating,” she explained. “They’re very fearful of people stealing ideas [...] and it’s a very transactional community. Georgia’s not that way.” Korngold’s various organizations are living proof of the collaborative community in Athens—CineVantage now serves as the resident production company at Athena Studios, and the Georgia Storylab houses a variety of teams to bolster projects from pre- to post-production. The latter organization is focused on combining resources to elevate films of all kinds, a mission that’s only been further emphasized by the ever-evolving cinematic landscape: “We're in times where, as creators, we have got to start helping one another. The way that the industry was is not what it is today, and the legacy way of operating that was is probably not coming back. It’s a time of massive disruption, and it's terrifying, but it's also very exciting."

In Korngold’s eyes, the nationwide commotion in the film industry gives Georgia the “keys to the kingdom” to be a leader in this new wave. She points out a secret weapon here that other markets lack: an ultra-unique infrastructure. Georgia has the talented casts and crews necessary to produce quality cinema, but even as productions have moved elsewhere, our flexible foundation allows us to easily adapt to the changing tides. “Georgia is poised more so than any other state because we're nimble, and we're not entrenched in this legacy way of doing things like LA or New York,” Korngold said. She later cited producer Ted Hope’s NonDē (short for non-dependent filmmaking) philosophy as an inspiration for what Georgia film could be.

“We have the ability to disconnect from the legacy systems of finance, producing, distribution. [...] We don’t have this legacy system of gatekeepers and greenlighters and all that. We’re our own thing.”

With her sights set on the future of film, Korngold just launched a brand-new partnership to assist the next generation of creatives. At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, she announced that CineVantage has teamed up with Coca Cola Refreshing Films, a program dedicated to providing student filmmakers with industry-level resources. Alongside RED Digital Cameras, Nikon Z-Cinema, and Company 3, CineVantage will offer mentorship in sound design and score composition. The winner’s short will be shown in movie theaters across the country, a prize that goes hand-in-hand with Korngold’s hopes to preserve moviegoing. “Coca Cola and the theatrical experience are synonymous,” she smiled. “I’m all about work workforce development and education for film in the state, and the Coca Cola program is square in that space for me of the things that make my heart happy.”

There’s a bit of a special connection here: Korngold’s husband is the grandson of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, one of Hollywood’s most influential composers. John Williams and Hans Zimmer have cited his Oscar-winning works as an influence, and CineVantage’s work in sound design is a deeply symbolic passing of the torch. “Oftentimes, music and sound editing is one of the things that's a real luxury for filmmakers,” Honnie Korngold noted. “By sowing into the music and the composing and sound element of this program with Coca Cola Refreshing Films, it’s kind of like carrying on the family legacy.”

In addition to this remarkable collaboration, Korngold said she’s going to keep moving right along in the flow of incoming inspiration. “More films, more vertical microdrama series, more branded content; we’ve even got an app in development,” Korngold excitedly shared. “I’m immensely grateful every day. It’s a blessing when I get to drive through the gates here on the lot and do what I do. I don’t take any of it for granted.”