Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2023: ANDY EDMUNDS

When Hollywood productions like “Dopesick,” “Cold Mountain,” “Wonder Woman 1984” and others want to film in Virginia, they come to Edmunds to get the ball rolling.

As director of the Virginia Film Office since 2011 — and the office’s locations manager for 14 years before that — Edmunds helps productions access economic incentives and works to ensure that filmmakers have positive experiences that make them want to return to the commonwealth. He’s worked with directors Steven Spielberg, Terrence Malick, Ridley Scott, Clint Eastwood and a score of others. Although he can’t yet reveal details, Edmunds anticipates a “major musical motion picture” will be in production later this year, the first musical feature ever filmed in Virginia. A possibility is “Atlantis,” a musical inspired by Pharrell Williams’ childhood in Virginia Beach, set to be directed by Michel Gondry.

A Virginia native who studied music at Virginia Commonwealth University, Edmunds was introduced to show business in the 1980s, when the music video he produced for a song he wrote and performed was aired on Nickelodeon and MTV. He serves on the Virginia Film Festival’s advisory board and the Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival’s board.

PERSONAL MOTTO: Optimism is free.

FIRST JOB: Taking tickets at my small-town movie theater at the age of 12