Today we’d like to introduce you to Carter Phillips.
Hi Carter, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I got into Atlanta real estate sales in 2005 and did well selling new construction condos as an on-site agent. I had many other terrific sales during that time and afterward and then the financial crash hit in 2008, and I was flushed down the drain as were many other agents during that time. I took two other jobs from 2008 until 2010 that I truly hated. In early 2010, I read about the 30% Georgia Film and Television Tax Credit being approved by the Georgia State Legislature. I got a call from a Location Scout named Karen Mason asking me if one of my $6,000,000 listings in Castleberry Hill was still available to me and if it was available for filming purposes. I replied with a resounding “yes’ and invited her over to take photos. She did, and suddenly we were filming “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” at my previous listing, 229 Bradberry Street, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30313.
I needed more of this income, and I needed a way to reinvent and relaunch myself. I wondered how I would ever get more opportunities like this when the idea came to me. I rented the movies that I knew had been filmed in Atlanta recently, and I fast-forwarded to the end of the films and looked for “Locations”. That gave me a list of people I could write down. I then used Google and IMDB.com to research the Location Managers and Scouts, and from there, I started emailing photos of the houses and commercial spaces that I had started collecting immediately following “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”. Within 2 weeks, I had a Tyler Perry film lined up titled “Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Councelor” that featured Kim Kardashian, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Vanessa Williams, and Brandy Norwood.
From there, I was contacted to place all of the cast from “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 & Part 2” in houses while they were here in Georgia filming the last two films. The Georgia Film and Television Tax Credit had pulled filming from North Carolina. I placed Philip Seymour Hoffman on 9th Street in Midtown Atlanta, Jennifer Lawrence on Habersham Road, right above Peachtree Battle, and Liam Hemsworth on Ridgewood Road in The Ridgewood House.
From there, I placed Tom Cruise in housing, Taraji P. Henson, Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck, Lee Daniels, Jaime Foxx, and many more.
My way of rebooting my real estate career was then to tell people that if I can pull $250,000 out of the air for filming in your home, I can definitely sell your home!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road. Other people wanting to do what I was doing began pecking away at my business and doing things to pull business away from me that certainly weren’t ethical.
As you know, we’re big fans of Engel & Völkers Atlanta. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are an international luxury real estate firm that specializes in new construction sales, resales, yacht, and private jet sales. I am a native Atlantan that knows all of the in-town neighborhoods in and out, and I have the experience that keeps every one of my clients from getting into trouble and from losing deals.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Find someone that isn’t jealous of other’s accomplishments. Find someone that is giving and nurturing. There are masters at what they do that are more than happy to help you and see you succeed. It reflects really well on them to see you succeed!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://CARTERPHILLIPS.EVATLANTA.COM
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cartercarter11
