Every month more than 200 people in the film and TV industry gather at Atlas Studios in Milpark, Johannesburg to view an independent movie. One month it’s a local production, the next it’s a foreign film. Sometimes there’s a lively discussion with the attending filmmakers and afterwards the audience can continue networking over drinks. Food and music that match the theme or country of the evening add to the artistic and culinary experience.

Atlas Studios has become a vibrant meeting point for the industry, as well as a physical workshop where seven studios are in regular use by local film crews.

The facilities in this once derelict converted bakery are impressive. The five-storey building houses TV soundstages, daylight studios and a pack shot studio; with all the lighting and other infrastructure needed for shooting TV dramas, sitcoms and game shows, live broadcasts, corporate or music videos and commercials, and  castings calls.

But it’s the sense of camaraderie that Atlas has created in the industry that most pleases its owner, Jonathan Gimpel.

Jonathan is a property developer rather than a film fundie and he specialises in urban renewal. Turning the bakery into a film studio made perfect sense, not only because of its spaciousness but also because of its location, close to the SABC, next door to a film school, and down the road from arty Melville, home to many of the industry’s professionals.

Since its creation, the whole Milpark area has become more popular and welcoming. The bohemian shopping area 44 Stanley is just around the corner, attracting people who once shunned this previously bleak and grimy suburb on the fringes of the city centre.

“When we started this journey we found that TV and film people were very friendly, but there wasn’t much connection between them - there wasn’t a place they could meet and hang out with other people in the industry,” says Jonathan.

The First Wednesday Film Club was the first activity launched to help build that sense of unity and to encourage young filmmakers to share their work and be exposed to films of different genres.

Now the film club never has to go looking for new material, as so many filmmakers want their movies to be featured for viewing by their peers.

“Every month we screen an independent film, one month from South Africa and the next month a foreign film. It’s aimed at the industry, not the general public, because it’s designed as a networking event,” Jonathan says.

The recently released Jozi and before that the successful Tsotsi were both screened at the First Wednesday Film Club before hitting the art house cinemas.

Atlas Studios also plays host to numerous other corporate and social events, catering from anything from 10 to 1 000 people. It has hosted fashion shows for Levis, Cosmopolitan and Lee Cooper; car launches; award dinners; and product launches.

During social functions, illuminated company logos can be projected onto the dramatic gas towers of Egoli Gasworks next door.

Less enjoyable but more important have been the meetings Atlas hosts for industry players hurt by the SABC’s cutbacks.

The cash-strapped corporation has slashed its procurement of locally-produced programmes, leading to an estimated 35 000 job losses and dozens of small production companies closing.

The Television Industry Emergency Coalition (TIEC) says the SABC last issued requests for programme ideas in September 2008, then cancelled more than half the potential programmes last year to save money. Slow payments for shows already being aired compounded the crisis. The SABC has only just started releasing new briefs.

Atlas regularly provides meeting space for the SA Screen Federation (SASFED) and the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO), so hosting the meetings of Save Our SABC (SOS) was a natural step.

“These industry groups need to have meetings and we have space that we don’t charge them for using,” says Jonathan. “Very often these groups don’t have the money to rent a meeting room, but these are our future clients and we are very happy for them to use our facilities. Any kind of group in the film and TV industry can use our place.”

Atlas opened in 2002 and its world-class studios and support facilities have seen it become an established industry player. The studios have hosted iconic local shows like Home Affairs, City Ses’la, Coconuts, Villa Rosa and Coca Cola Mega Millions Gameshow.

Its most recently built studio, the seventh, features a soundstage measuring 320m². Its first production was a game show with a live audience for the SABC 3 current affairs programme, Drawing the Line. It is also ideal for medium-scale commercials and has been used by McDonalds.

Atlas prides itself on offering SPACE, an acronym standing for its core values of service, passion, affordability, creativity and excellence.

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Lesley Stones