Longtime Mobile Film Office director Eva Golson has been inducted into the Southern Public Relations Federation’s Hall of Fame, an honor recognizing her decades of work promoting the region as a filming destination. Golson has led the Mobile Film Office since it was established in 2001, but her efforts to bring film and television production to the Azalea City stretch back much further, to 1976.
Since Golson began advocating for Mobile as a production location, the area has hosted 178 movies, television series, music videos, documentaries and commercials, according to figures tied to her tenure. She was also a driving force behind the creation of the state’s film incentive package, which was designed to make Alabama more competitive for larger-budget productions by offering financial incentives to filmmakers. Since that incentive program was enacted, Mobile has attracted productions with a combined budget of more than $150 million, cementing the city’s reputation as the state’s leading destination for film and television work.
Golson’s honors extend well beyond this latest recognition. She is a member of the Public Relations Council of Alabama’s Mobile Chapter as well as the Southern Public Relations Federation, and was named the Public Relations Council of Alabama’s Practitioner of the Year in 1980. She is also enshrined in the Alabama Tourism Hall of Fame. Golson received her Southern Public Relations Federation Hall of Fame induction on Aug. 5 during a ceremony held in Starkville, Mississippi.
Local officials and business leaders have often pointed to the film office’s work as a rare bright spot for economic diversification in a region historically anchored by shipping, manufacturing and the paper industry, making Golson’s recognition a notable moment for Mobile’s ongoing efforts to build out its creative economy.