The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Film Academy grad gets big break
Atlanta man discusses internship on set of ‘Creed III,’ third installment of ‘Creed’ franchise
Ever wonder what it’s like to be on a film set with Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors? Justin Holt recently got that chance.
Holt moved to Atlanta from Paonia, Colorado, in March 2021 hoping to become an actor. By December of that year, he had secured an internship on the set of “Creed III,” the third installment of the “Creed” franchise starring Jordan as the son of Apollo Creed from the “Rocky” franchise.
When Holt first moved to Atlanta, he landed a job as an extra on a TV show and picked up a job at UPS to make ends meet. While working at UPS, he learned about the Georgia Film Academy, a statewide initiative operated with support of the University System of Georgia.
Holt quickly abandoned the acting lane in favor of production. Now 21, he graduated from the academy in March 2022 and has taken on many production jobs since his stint on “Creed III.” His first paid role was as a set production assistant on “Civil War,” a new film from director Alex Garland starring Kirsten Dunst. By the end of 2022, he had worked on several other productions, including the reboot of “The Wonder Years.”
Rough Draft Atlanta spoke to Holt about his experience with the academy and on the set of “Creed III.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: To start, I would love to hear about your experience at the Georgia Film Academy.
A: It jump-started my career, and I’m very grateful for them. I had great teachers, I had great classmates — I still talk to some of them to this day.
It was overall a great experience. I don’t know any other way to put it. These people work in the industry, these people know what they’re talking about. I definitely feel that I was prepared for the “Creed III” internship, and from there on out, I’ve been able to keep steady work. It’s been great.
Q: How did that “Creed III” internship come about?
A: I landed the internship with the GFA. Kate McArdle, who kind of ran the internship program, she reached out to everybody that got in that semester, for lack of a better term, and she was like, “Creed III” … they want to bring on some interns.
I was like, hell, yeah! I submitted a resume, and to my surprise, about 2½ weeks later I get an email from the second (assistant director).
Q: What was your role on set? What was your normal routine like?
A: I would help with breakfasts for the main cast in the morning. After that, I would usually just go straight to set, and I would check in with (production assistant) Mohammad (Amireh) and see what he would need.
Even though it was March, it was really hot on that soundstage. We wanted to keep the actors kind of warmed up and their muscles loose, because they were fighting for 10 hours a day. So it was really freaking hot. We would go through, I’m not even kidding, like pallets of water. Because we had all this background, and all this crew — it was insane. So I was designated water boy for some days. It just depended on whatever we needed on that day.
I definitely had simple tasks, but I learned so much because I was still pretty wide-eyed and deer in the headlights — like, man, this is crazy! That was kind of my typical day, and then after we wrapped I would usually check out background, or I would collect what they call daily time sheets, which is paperwork that the production office needs after every night of filming. It just depended.
Q: Jumping back a little bit — you’re from Colorado. Why did you decide to move to Atlanta?
A: I wanted to work in this industry. I originally wanted to act. I knew that Atlanta was a big market, but not an L.A. or New York, you know? But it’s still consistent work.
Like I said, I didn’t want to do production in the first place, I just kind of fell in love with it and the logistics of that job. But I got here, and I was just like, man, I can’t handle the actor’s smoke (laughs). I’m not built for it.
Q: You mentioned that this internship led to some other opportunities. Can you talk a little bit about those?
A: After “Creed III,” I actually did this small, three-week Lifetime movie, which was hard. You know, it’s a much smaller production, so it was way more hands-on. But it taught me a lot of skills I still use to this day, because I was more in the driver’s seat versus the passenger for “Creed III.”
After that, I got an opportunity on an A24 movie (“Civil War”) that really, really … helped my career as far as truly learning how production works.
Q: “Creed III” came out March 3. Will this be the first time you’ve seen a finished movie you’ve worked on?
A: Actually, my first ever finished project I watched was that Lifetime movie. And let me tell you, it is so bizarre watching. It has ruined it for me, unfortunately. I just sit there and I think of the stuff that wasn’t placed, or we broke our backs to get one shot and it never made the cut. It’s very weird!
I had a previous boss of mine who did “The Office” for seven seasons, and he said it was legit PTSD watching it (laughs).
Q: So I guess “excited” might not be the word you’d use about finally seeing “Creed III”?
A: Well, I mean, I’m excited. I can’t wait to watch it; it’s just such a different experience, you know? It’s wild.