Area businesses getting a piece of the “Get On Up” movie pie have been singing the praises of the production officials, cast and anyone else visiting Natchez to document the life of “The Godfather of Soul.”

Filming for the movie about James Brown’s life, which is being directed by Mississippian Tate Taylor, started on Nov. 4 and is slated to wrap up in Natchez on Dec. 20 before officials head to Jackson.

Part of Taylor’s desire to shoot every frame of the movie in Mississippi also means plenty of interaction with local stores, restaurants and other businesses.

“It’s always important for us to give back to the communities we’re in because we’re just guests here after all,” executive producer Trish Hofmann said. “We’ve looked for as many opportunities and will continue looking for opportunities where we can to be a part of the community.”

Being part of the community, Hofmann said, includes everything from eating at local restaurants to getting building supplies from local hardware stores.

“Natchez Coffee Company felt like home for a while there,” Hofmann said, laughing. “Everyone has really been great here and working with a lot of local vendors for everything we do is very important to us.”

Weeks before crews set up shop on the corner of Wall and Franklin streets, Natchez Coffee Company Manager Sharon Brown said production officials conducted the majority of their business from inside the shop.

“They didn’t have offices yet, so they used my dining room and were in here all the time,” Brown said. “They’re just one of the nicest groups of people I’ve ever worked with.”

Brown said she catered meals for the crews for several weeks before a full-time food truck arrived.

“We still do a lot of sandwich trays for them, and they’ll usually be a group hanging out eating and drinking in the shop,” Brown said. “It’s been extremely positive for us.”

Brown said profits associated with the movie have easily matched and topped her typical busiest weekend of the year — when the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race flies into town.

“Unless it’s balloon race weekend, we normally don’t have this much business,” Brown said. “I would love to see one or two movies a year come through Natchez.

“Anything we can get in Natchez would be great because God knows they’ve done some great things for our local economy.”

While various production officials and others who were staying in Natchez for the duration of the filming have found more permanent places to say around the area, several cast members of the film rested their heads at Dunleith Historic Inn, including executive producer Mick Jagger.

Dunleith assistant general manager Lyn Fortenbery said having cast members stay at the historic property has helped increase revenue throughout what is normally a slow month.

“We actually had a great November with them being here as far as revenue,” Fortenbery said. “We’re obviously a big wedding destination, so we’ve continued to have those, but the tourism and foot traffic on the property from the movie has been great for us.”

Dunleith is also featured in the film during a country club scene in which James Brown plays for a crowd. The scene was filmed in November and was one of the bigger scenes of the movie, Hofmann said, with nearly 100 extras and live music on set.

“We didn’t charge them at all to come here and do that scene, because the free advertisement we’ll get once the movie premiers will be priceless,” Fortenbery said. “To have our property shown on a big screen nationwide will be something very beneficial for us and Natchez for years to come.”

Also on the Dunleith set were Steampunk Coffee Roasters owner Dub Rogers and his crew, who set up shop in their mobile barista truck, dubbed the “A-Team Coffee SWAT Truck.”

Rogers said movie officials have been pouring into his espresso bar on High Street since they arrived.

“We’ve literally had people say they came straight from the airport to here,” Rogers said. “A lot of them come from places with great coffee, so it’s been great to have them here and tell us they enjoy it so much.”

After serving lattes and espressos to a few key movie officials, Rogers said he was asked to bring his truck to serve coffee and hot chocolate during the Dunleith filming.

“It was great being out there getting to serve everyone and just be a part of everything,” Rogers said. “We stayed out there for almost three hours trying to warm everyone up.”

Rogers said daily sales at the business have increased an estimated 10 percent since the movie officials came to town.

“We’re certainly going to miss them when they leave,” Rogers said. “But even more than that, we’ve gotten to know these people and their families, and it’s going to be sad to see them go.

“They’ve just brought a ton of business to a lot of people in Natchez, and we hope more movies come here.”

Natchez tourism officials have already started the work to create tours for “Get On Up” similar to ones Greenwood hosts for “The Help,” which Taylor also directed.

Fortenbery said she’s hopeful Dunleith will become a stop on the “Get On Up” tour once they begin.

“We’ve already started talking about ways to promote Natchez as a total destination location for the movie,” Fortenbery said. “I think the services Natchez has been able to offer will be very positive for Natchez and Mississippi when future projects look to our area.”

Movie officials have also been spending money at local businesses to help create the sets that will soon shine on the big screen.

Brian Massey of Home Hardware said the stores have been flooded with workers buying everything from electrical to plumbing supplies.

“Every department we have in our store, they’ve been buying from,” Massey said. “It’s a fair amount of money they’ve been pouring into local businesses, and that’s always great to see.”

Massey said it’s frustrating for local businesses when large projects come to town with all of the materials already purchased.

“It’s nice to have someone in town willing to come in and work with you,” Massey said. “We were in the process of trying to contact the movie people and then someone came into the store and said, ‘We’d like to do some business and open an account.’

“We hope more films come to Natchez.”