Barnes & Thornburg partner Stephen Weizenecker has been involved in Georgia's film and TV production industry since he started practicing entertainment law in 1995.

With the boom in the state's entertainment industry over the last decade, his practice has broadened from representing film and TV production companies to the video game and  emerging esports industry in Georgia.

There's a lot of entertainment legal work to go around. Entertainment content production is at an all-time high in Georgia and nationally, which means a lot of work for lawyers, said Weizenecker, who was sworn in Nov. 13 as a member of Gov. Brian Kemp's Georgia Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Commission.

Weizenecker is also the new chair of the motion picture, television, cable and radio division of the American Bar Association's Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries.

Entertainment production has taken off in Georgia since the introduction of the statewide film, TV and digital entertainment tax credit in 2008. The Georgia Film and Entertainment Commission, which Weizenecker also served on under former Gov. Nathan Deal, advises the governor on tax incentives, policy and regulatory issues for the entertainment industry—including, now, esports.

Georgia is the top production location worldwide for film and video, according to the Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Office. It's more recently become a hub for the videogame and esports industries.

Consequently, Weizenecker has expanded his client base beyond film and video production companies like NBC Universal and Viacom to include French video game-maker Ubisoft Entertainment. He's also national counsel for the Entertainment Software Association, the trade group for the U.S. video game industry.

There are more than 150 video game production studios in Georgia now, employing more than 15,000 people, and the industry generates more than $750 million in annual revenue, according to the Georgia Game Developers Association.

One of the largest national gamer and esports festivals, DreamHack Atlanta, is happening Nov. 15 to Nov. 17 at the Georgia World Congress Center, Weizenecker noted.

"Esports is the next evolution of video games—and right now it's the fastest-growing content sector in the world," he said, adding that esports, like video games before it, now qualifies for the Georgia entertainment production tax credit.

"We've worked quietly to grow that industry in Georgia, and Gov. Kemp has been a big supporter," he said. "The future growth here is going to be big."

Kemp just announced Nov. 13 the opening of a new Midtown Atlanta headquarters for the city's first professional esports team, Atlanta Reign, which competes in the national Overwatch League. The team's owner, Atlanta Esports Ventures, a partnership between Cox Enterprises and Nevada-based Province Inc., said it will invest $100 million in the headquarters and esports industry. That follows AEV's announcement in May that it will be fielding a team for Atlanta's new Call of Duty league.

Right now, these industries are producing the highest-ever amount of content—both in Georgia and elsewhere, Weizenecker said. With so many productions going on, the biggest challenge is effectively representing clients on tax incentives, he said, which means finding the right locations and working with the state and municipal governments to make sure the incentive programs are executed properly.

One of his clients, Netflix, just announced in October that it will raise another $2 billion in debt to finance new content, in response to an upsurge in competition from the likes of Disney, Apple and NBC. Weizenecker said that is a larger content spend than for all U.S. movie studios combined.

He's been representing Netflix on two locally-produced shows, "Stranger Things" and "Raising Dion." The latter is a series about a kid with superpowers that premiered Oct. 4. "It's been a lot of fun," said Weizenecker, who advises Netflix in its dealings with state and city governments, adding that there are "reams of paperwork" behind any new TV show, film or video game.

Besides entertainment industry players, Weizenecker also represents banks and investment funds in loan deals to finance all the content being created. "The growth of content has been astronomical," he said. "There's a lot of work to get done."