THOMASVILLE — After a tough few months, Thomasville Pictures is helping to bring another production to the local area, according to Variety News. 

Co-owner of Thomasville Pictures Ryan Smith is reportedly co-financing the film “Sam and Kate” starring Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek.  

The film’s production is set to start mid-February in Thomasville, despite no city film permits being signed yet by the company. 

“I have not seen any film permits come through yet. We were told that there was going to be a film, but no permits have been applied for,” Bonnie Hayes, City of Thomasville tourism manager, said. “Anytime they need services from the city such as to shut down streets, to get police security or any services such as electricity and garbage disposal, they have to do that through our office.” 

Thomasville Pictures started increasing film production in the local area back in 2019 with their first production “The Tiger Rising” starring Queen Latifah and Dennis Quaid. Other productions have followed in the last few years including “Bandit” starring Josh Duhamel and Mel Gibson and “One Way” starring Machine Gun Kelly and Kevin Bacon. 

Smith and Thomasville Pictures, however, will not be involved in the production process of “Sam and Kate,” Variety said. 

The new film’s scheduled production announcement comes after Smith and business partner and Thomasville native Allen Cheney were hit with two lawsuits for their involvement in the film production of “Rust” starring Alec Baldwin. 

Last month on the New Mexico set, Baldwin discharged a loaded gun in between scenes that took the life of cinematographer Helyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. 

Both lawsuits allege that production’s cutting corners and using inexperienced crew members resulted to the fatal shooting. 

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Cheney defended all six “Rust” producers’ credentials and stated his involvement with the film did not include daily production operation. 

“I received executive producer credit on the film ‘Rust’ having no involvement with the physical and day to day production,” the statement read. 

The local film company has also been linked to allegations of past unsafe production sets and late payments to crew members, according to the L.A. Times. 

Thomasville Pictures has not responded to comment requests from the Thomasville Times-Enterprise regarding the fatal incident during “Rust” film production.