Early last year, Garnie got a call from a film scout interested in using Serenbe as the backdrop for a major motion picture. He came, he saw, he loved. So for 8 weeks last summer, Serenbe turned into Amity in Insurgent, the second movie in the Divergent series.

It was all so wonderfully synchronistic: In the movie, Amity is one of five factions in the Divergent world. The inhabitants are peaceful, kind, trusting, self-sufficient and do all the farming for the other factions. I love that Serenbe was chosen to represent where the happy people live.

It took about five weeks to build the set at Serenbe Stables. They used the barn as the backdrop for City Hall and built an unbelievable dome with a tree in the middle that acted as their gathering spot. I so wish we would have known about the dome ahead of time so we could’ve had them build it for the long-term. I desperately wanted to keep it.

They shot here for three weeks, and in that time the population of Serenbe doubled with crew and extras. The director and producer stayed here, as did the stars, Shailene Woodley and Theo James. And once word leaked out about that, there were teenyboppers everywhere.

One of the most fascinating parts of the process to me was the food service. To feed 500 people a day, Hollywood’s No. 1 caterer brought in 18-wheelers that served as refrigerators and kitchens for an entire staff of cooks and service people.

They had beautifully fresh sushi and other delicious food every day. For 500 people. Out of a truck. I had lunch there one day and was blown away.

It was fascinating to be the site of that much fun and chaos—and to have a front-row seat for the money and effort that really goes into the making of a film.

Serenbe was the first 18 minutes of the movie; we went to see it at the Atlanta premiere. It looked incredible and really made us step back, see it from a different perspective and enjoy the beauty.

My mind reeled. It never occurred to me that Serenbe would be used for filming. Never occurred to me that we’d have a theater company or so many of the other cultural elements of this community. It’s left me wondering, damn, what other wonders will appear on our doorstep?