Authentic stories, rooted in place and shared experience, are the aim of a new venture in Spartanburg County unveiled Sept. 4 at Spartanburg Community College’s Spark Center.
Salt Run Entertainment is a newly formed integrated production studio based at the Spark Center, which will serve as the company’s headquarters and creative hub.
It was founded by York native and acclaimed producer, writer and director Charles Randolph-Wright in partnership with Spartanburg native John Gramling III, CEO and president of New Canaan Impact Capital. Salt Run Entertainment seeks to expand South Carolina’s television and film industry and create opportunities for the state’s native talent.
Home-grown talent
The studio has partnered with SCC and Urban League of the Upstate to advance education and workforce development opportunities within the wide range of careers available in the television and film industry.
Gramling said the studio is not only about telling authentic stories from a Southern perspective but also giving the state’s native-born creative talent an avenue to express themselves and launch careers without having to go somewhere else to do so.
“We’re going to create good paying jobs in South Carolina,” Gramling said. “A lot of them are going to be the kids who come through here and learn. We’re going to supercharge the creative economy in South Carolina.”
He added the studio’s vision is to grow the Palmetto State’s television and film industry from its current level of about $300 million annually to $1 billion or more.
Randolph-Wright, founder and CEO of Wright Angle Productions, described having to leave the state to pursue his career and how meaningful it is to return to his native soil to create opportunities for new generations of story tellers.
“You don’t how that feels, especially for me, to come back — this little kid from York, South Carolina, who had this vision of doing things that I could never imagine in York,” he said. “I had to leave to do that. I had to leave and go different places, always thinking I was less than because I came from a place that I was taught was less than.”
A venture like Salt Run Entertainment could have gone virtually anywhere across the Southeast and been welcomed, said Gail Wilson Awan, president and CEO of Urban League of the Upstate.
“Salt Run Entertainment’s presence in Spartanburg represents more than a new business — it’s a chance to create access, expand workforce pipelines, and ensure that opportunities in this industry are open to all,” she said.
Hitting the ground running
Randolph-Wright said the studio has already been at work on new projects, one of the most exciting involving comedian Shuler King, who appeared on America’s Got Talent earlier this year.
King, a Sumter native, draws inspiration from his background growing up in a family-run funeral home business — a background shared by Randolph-Wright, whose credits include directing “Motown: The Musical” and co-directing “Porgy and Bess.”
King is collaborating with Salt Run Entertainment on a television show based on his comedic insight into his family’s funeral home heritage.
This and other projects will take shape at the studio’s 25,000-square-foot space in the Spark Center. Gramling said the space will not only house the offices needed for day-to-day operations but also the sets and other infrastructure needed to produce film and television content.
SCC President Michael Mikota said partnering with the studio will provide invaluable practical learning opportunities for the college’s students.
“It’s exciting that we are launching that capability here,” Mikota said. “We have individuals here today that are going to speak to this exciting time and the investments that are taking place.”
The Spark Center is a 363,000-square-foot advanced business incubator and soft-landing facility located at SCC’s Tyger River Campus in Duncan. It is designed to provide flexible space and support to companies looking to locate or expand in South Carolina.
To learn more about Salt Run Entertainment, visit saltrunentertainment.com.
