Atlanta based president tyler perry studio He died Friday night when the small plane he was piloting crashed off Florida's Gulf Coast.
The studio confirmed Saturday that its 62-year-old president and general manager Steve Mensch has died.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of our dear friend Steve Mensch,” the studio said in a statement. “Steve was a beloved member of our team for over eight years and was well-loved in the Atlanta community. It's hard to imagine not seeing him smiling across the hall. We will miss him greatly. Our hearts go out to his family. We all send him our prayers.”
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles via AP
The crash happened in Homosassa, about 60 miles north of Tampa. Photographs from the scene show that the plane is upside down on the road. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
According to FAA records, the single-engine van RV-12IS was registered to Mensch's home address in the Atlanta suburb of Fayetteville.
Mensch helped advocate and maintain Georgia's Film Tax Credit Worth over $1 billion per year. Those heavy subsidies have made Georgia one of the most active locations in the United States for film and television production.
Mensch got into the film business when he started working for Feature Systems, which provides equipment for the film industry. He was hired by Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting to run their studio operations, later becoming director of strategic production partnerships. It was here that he began lobbying the state government for more support for film and television production.
Rick Reitz, an actor who also helped create the tax credit, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Mensch had helped the state market it before. 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and helped launch the Georgia Production Partnership, an entertainment industry lobbying group.
“He was trying to create a vision for the market before the Olympics and wanted a think tank of people in the community to help Georgia be competitive,” Reitz said. “He was a key figure in our growth to become a strong film and TV market.”
After a year helping plan and build a massive studio in China and a brief stint opening Third Rail Studios in suburban Atlanta. Perry hired Mensch in 2016 to help him build and run his eponymous studio. The studio is spread across 330 acres of a former Army base in southern Atlanta that Perry acquired in 2015.
Mensch died the same day Perry released “The Six Triple Eight,” a war drama about a mostly black and all-female battalion of World War II. The film was shot at Atlanta Studios.
Mensch is survived by his wife Daniela and three children.