Gary T. Smith
| Gary T. Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Gary Thomas Smith 30 October 1954 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Occupation | Screenwriter, actor, and film and television director |
| Years active | 1971-73, 1976-78, 1980-present |
| Spouse(s) | Vicki G. Smith (1976-present) |
| Website |
www |
Gary T. Smith (born October 30, 1954) is an American screenwriter, actor, and film and television director. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, he is descended from a long line of Georgians, dating back before the Civil War. He was raised in a typical middle-class family of the 1950s and 60s, his father an executive in the baking industry and his mother a stay-at-home mom. He has drawn on this heritage as inspiration for his films.
Early career
Smith's career began in 1971 at WHAE-TV46/Atlanta, while he was still a high school student. The station was owned and operated by Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. After a stint as station courier and film department assistant, he moved to the studio where he began to learn the skills that he would later use to develop his own productions.
In the mid-70s, he relocated to Virginia where he worked at CBN's headquarters' station, running camera for the network's flagship program The 700 Club. On April 29, 1977, he participated in the inaugural broadcast of the CBN Satellite Service which is now ABC Family.
In the 1980s, Smith directed The Breakfast Club, a live daily talk show in Atlanta (which also aired weekly on the defunct PTL Satellite Network), as well as studio segments for MotoWorld, seen on The Nashville Network. He was awarded an Area Emmy by the Atlanta Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for work on the documentary Zoo Atlanta: The World's Next Great Zoo, in July, 1987.[1]
The 90s brought more opportunities as he co-developed and directed the television series Prep Sports + for Georgia Public Television, and directed the internationally broadcast program Praise the Lord for the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Recent career
January, 2010 marked a new direction for Smith with the premiere screening (at Atlanta's Landmark Art Cinema) of the narrative short film The Mailbox, which he wrote, directed and acted in, and for which he won a Redemptive Film Festival "Redemptive Storyteller Award". A tag-line for the movie is, "A young boy learns the meaning of the old saying 'You only get to keep what you give away.'" Smith has described the film as "sort-of a parable."
Although fictional, the majority of the story takes place in rural Georgia during 1947 and centers around a family's mailbox, which the mom paints a bright yellow. The yellow mailbox is the origin of the name for Smith's own film production company, Yellow Post Pictures.
In March 2012, Triple Horse Studios (which recently announced plans to "build a Hollywood-style film studio in Covington, [GA] ultimately investing $100 million, with the goal of solidifying Covington's position as the 'Hollywood of the South.'"[2]) concluded a deal with Smith to co-produce The Engagement Ring, a feature-length movie that he wrote and is slated to direct.[3] A romantic comedy, the story takes place on the campus of fictional "Mountainview College" in north Georgia.
Reminiscent of screenwriter/director M. Night Shyamalan (whose films typically take place in Pennsylvania), Smith has a commitment to movies set-in, as well as filmed-in his home state. He plans to shoot The Engagement Ring entirely in Georgia.[4] Smith also has several more movie projects in various stages of development, including Trouble in the Plate (a suspense comedy) scheduled for release in summer, 2014, as well as First Georgia Blue, a Civil War drama which he hopes to release as part of the Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the conflict.
Personal life
In 1976, Smith married the former Vicki Irene Greer (whom he describes as "the love of my life"). The idea of the yellow mailbox (seen in the film The Mailbox and the origin of the name Yellow Post Pictures) derives from the Greer family mailbox, which Vicki painted yellow and which was yellow while they were dating. The couple has 3 children.
Smith is a graduate of Mercer University in Atlanta (BA in Religion, 1979), Master's International School of Divinity (MMin, 2012), and Regent University (MA in Cinema and Television, 2013). He was ordained a Southern Baptist minister in 1993 and is a commissioned officer in the Georgia State Defense Force.
Selected Filmography
| Year | Production | Writer | Director | Actor/Talent | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announced | The Engagement Ring (feature) | X | X | X | Coach Barnett |
| 2014 | Trouble in the Plate (feature) | X | X | X | LT Reily |
| 2010 | The Mailbox (short) | X | X | X | Uncle Billy |
| 2007 | Searching for Church (documentary short) | X | X | X | Host |
| 1998 | Atlanta Passion Play: 2nd Edition (video) | X | Nicodemus | ||
| 1994 | Praise the Lord (TV series) | X | X | Himself | |
| 1992 | Prep Sports + (TV series) | X | X | X | Himself (voice) |
| 1988 | MotoWorld (TV series) | X (studio segs) | |||
| 1985 | Fisherman (video) | X | X | ||
| 1985 | The Breakfast Club (TV series) | X | |||
References
- ↑ The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution, July 19, 1987, page D/24.
- ↑ http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/news/2013/apr/13/triple-horse-to-build-film-studio-in-covington/
- ↑ http://www.triplehorsestudios.com/news.aspx
- ↑ http://www.triplehorsestudios.com/news.aspx