Chernin Entertainment has announced it will keep its “Fear Street” trilogy and “P-Valley” TV series in Georgia while donating to oppose the state’s controversial “heartbeat” bill — which would ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — signed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.
The move mirrors recent actions by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, which announced on May 10 that their HBO series “Lovecraft Country” would continue to shoot in Georgia as planned, but money from the production would be donated to two charities fighting the anti-abortion law. Indie producers Christine Vachon (“Carol”) and Mark Duplass (“Creep”) have expressed outrage over HB 481, which would outlaw abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat.
Chernin Entertainment toppers Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping said they would stay in Georgia while making a donation to the American Civil Liberties Union in a statement Wednesday.
Related
“When the ‘fetal heartbeat bill’ was signed into law we were deep into production on two projects, our film trilogy ‘Fear Street’ and the ‘P-Valley’ TV series, so were conflicted about contributing to the health of an economy and a state that had declared war on the rights and freedom of its women,” they said.”On one hand, if we chose the boycott route, thousands of jobs would be lost ultimately damaging workers who rely on production for livelihood, including many women.”
Chernin and Topping continued, “We also know that the only way to fight the massive, now national incursion on women’s rights is through a legal battle, a battle that needs funding and on the ground support via organizations like the ACLU who are powering up to overturn the law. So our choice became pretty clear, we will stay in Georgia, stand shoulder to shoulder with the women of that state and the states under attack, and fight to win. In doing so will be making a significant donation to ACLU because whatever upside we have needs to be shared with the women everywhere who have the right as human beings to make medical decisions as sovereign individuals.”
(Pictured: Jenno Topping and Peter Chernin.)