<PAGE>   1
      As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 29, 2000

                                                     Registration No. 333-
================================================================================

                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8
                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                         FRANKLIN FINANCIAL CORPORATION
             ------------------------------------------------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

            Tennessee                                 62-1376024
   (State or other jurisdiction         (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)
   of incorporation or organization)

                  230 Public Square, Franklin, Tennessee 37064
               ---------------------------------------------------
               (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

                             2000 STOCK OPTION PLAN
                            ------------------------
                            (Full Title of the Plan)

                        Richard E. Herrington, President
                         Franklin Financial Corporation
                                230 Public Square
                            Franklin, Tennessee 37064
                                 (615) 790-2265

                             -----------------------

                   (Name, address, telephone number, including
                        area code, of agent for service)

                             -----------------------

                              Copies Requested to:
                            Robert C. Schwartz, Esq.
                         Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP
                     1230 Peachtree Street, N.E., Suite 3100
                             Atlanta, Georgia 30309
                                 (404) 815-3758
================================================================================

                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
================================================================================

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                    Proposed Maximum        Proposed Maximum
  Title of Securities         Amount to be         Offering Price Per      Aggregate Offering              Amount of
    to be Registered            Registered             Share(1)                 Price(1)                Registration Fee
  -------------------         ------------         ------------------      ------------------           ----------------

<S>                           <C>                  <C>                     <C>                          <C>
Options and shares of
no par value Common            1,875,000                 $11.50                $21,562,500                  $5,391
Stock                           Shares
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</TABLE>

(1)      Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee
         pursuant to Rule 457(c).
==============================================================================


<PAGE>   2

                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT


ITEM 3.  INCORPORATION OF DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE.

         The documents listed below are hereby incorporated by reference into
this Registration Statement, and all documents subsequently filed by the Company
pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all
securities offered have been sold or which deregisters all securities then
remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this
Registration Statement and to be part hereof from the date of filing such
documents:

1.       The Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
         December 31, 1999;
2.       The Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March
         31, 2000;
3.       The Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June
         30, 2000;
4.       The Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended
         September 30, 2000; and
5.       The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
         Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A as filed with the
         Commission on April 30, 1998.

ITEM 4.  DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES.

         No response is required to this item.

ITEM 5.  INTERESTS OF NAMED EXPERTS AND COUNSEL.

         No response is required to this item.

ITEM 6.  INDEMNIFICATION OF OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS.

         The Company's Bylaws provide that in actions other than in the right of
the Company, the Company shall indemnify a director or officer of the Company
against costs, charges, expenses (including attorney's fees), judgments, fines
and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such director
or officer in connection with any action, suit or proceeding if he or she acted
in good faith and in a manner which he or she reasonably believed to be in or
not opposed to the best interest of the Company.

         The indemnification provisions contained in the Company's Bylaws are
substantially coextensive with the provisions of Sections 48-18-501 to 48-18-509
of the Tennessee Business Corporation Act, which sets forth the applicable
terms, conditions and limitations governing the indemnification of officers,
directors and other persons.

ITEM 7.  EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION CLAIMED.

         No response to this item is required.


                                      II-1
<PAGE>   3

ITEM 8.  EXHIBITS.

         The following exhibits are filed with this Registration Statement.

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
         EXHIBIT
         NUMBER            DESCRIPTION OF EXHIBIT
         ------            ----------------------

         <S>               <C>
          5.1              Opinion of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP

         10.1              2000 Stock Option Plan

         23.1              Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP

         23.2              Consent of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP (contained in their opinion filed as
                           Exhibit 5.1)

         24.1              Powers of Attorney (contained on the signature page to this Registration
                           Statement)
</TABLE>

ITEM 9.  UNDERTAKINGS.

         (a)      The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

                  (1)      To file, during any period in which offers or sales
         are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration
         Statement to include any material information with respect to the plan
         of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement
         or any material change to such information in the Registration
         Statement;

                  (2)      That, for the purpose of determining any liability
         under the Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment
         shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the
         securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that
         time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

                  (3)      To remove from registration by means of a
         post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which
         remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

         (b)      The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for
purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each
filing of the Registrant's Annual Report pursuant to section 13(a) or section
15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that is incorporated by reference
in the Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new Registration Statement
relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities
at the time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.


                                      II-2
<PAGE>   4

         (c)      Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling
persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise,
the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and
Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for
indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the
Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling
person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or
proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in
connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in
the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent,
submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such
indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will
be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.


                                      II-3
<PAGE>   5

                                   SIGNATURES


         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the
Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all
of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration
statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the City of Franklin, State of Tennessee, on this 19th day of
December, 2000.

                                      FRANKLIN FINANCIAL CORPORATION


                                      By:  /s/ Richard E. Herrington
                                           -------------------------------------
                                           Richard E. Herrington
                                           President and Chief Executive Officer

         KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature
appears below constitutes and appoints Gordon E. Inman and Richard E. Herrington
and each of them, his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with
full power of substitution and resubstitution for him or her, in his or her
name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments
(including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement, and to
file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection
therewith, including a Registration Statement filed under Rule 462(b) of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do
and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in
and about the premises as fully and to all intents and purposes as he or she
might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said
attorneys-in-fact and agents may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue
hereof.

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this
registration statement has been signed below by the following persons in the
capacities and on the dates indicated.

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                  Signature                                         Title                            Date
                  ---------                                         -----                            ----

<S>                                                    <C>                                <C>
/s/ Richard E. Herrington                              President, Chief Executive         December 19, 2000
------------------------------------                   Officer and  Director
Richard E. Herrington                                  (principal executive and
                                                       financial officer)



/s/ Lisa Musgrove                                      Senior Vice President and          December 19, 2000
------------------------------------                   Chief Financial Officer
Lisa Musgrove                                          (principal accounting officer)



/s/ Gordon E. Inman                                    Chairman of the Board              December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
Gordon E. Inman


/s/ Charles R. Lanier                                  Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
Charles R. Lanier
</TABLE>


<PAGE>   6

<TABLE>

<S>                                                    <C>                                <C>
/s/ James W. Cross, IV                                 Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
James W. Cross, IV


/s/ D. Wilson Overton                                  Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
D. Wilson Overton


/s/ Edward M. Richey                                   Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
Edward M. Richey


/s/ Melody J. Smiley                                   Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
Melody J. Smiley


/s/ Edward P. Silva                                    Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
Edward P. Silva
</TABLE>


<PAGE>   7

                                  EXHIBIT INDEX

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
EXHIBIT
NUMBER                DESCRIPTION OF EXHIBIT
------                ----------------------
<S>                   <C>
5.1                   Opinion of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP

10.1                  2000 Stock Option Plan

23.1                  Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP
</TABLE>
[{"type": "S-8", "sequence": "1", "filename": "g66142s-8.txt", "description": "FRANKLIN FINANCIAL CORPORATION", "secsgml_size_bytes": 14370}]
{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "FRANKLIN FINANCIAL CORP /TN/", "cik": "0000846903", "assigned-sic": "6021", "irs-number": "621376024", "state-of-incorporation": "TN", "fiscal-year-end": "1231"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-52928", "film-number": "797882"}, "business-address": {"street1": "FRANKLIN FINANCIAL CORP", "street2": "PO BOX 625", "city": "FRANKLIN", "state": "TN", "zip": "37065", "phone": "6157902265"}, "mail-address": {"street1": "FRANKLIN FINANCIAL CORP", "street2": "PO BOX 625", "city": "FRANKLIN", "state": "TN", "zip": "37065"}}
1
      As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 29, 2000

                                                     Registration No. 333-
================================================================================

                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8
                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                         FRANKLIN FINANCIAL CORPORATION
             ------------------------------------------------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

            Tennessee                                 62-1376024
   (State or other jurisdiction         (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)
   of incorporation or organization)

                  230 Public Square, Franklin, Tennessee 37064
               ---------------------------------------------------
               (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

                             2000 STOCK OPTION PLAN
                            ------------------------
                            (Full Title of the Plan)

                        Richard E. Herrington, President
                         Franklin Financial Corporation
                                230 Public Square
                            Franklin, Tennessee 37064
                                 (615) 790-2265

                             -----------------------

                   (Name, address, telephone number, including
                        area code, of agent for service)

                             -----------------------

                              Copies Requested to:
                            Robert C. Schwartz, Esq.
                         Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP
                     1230 Peachtree Street, N.E., Suite 3100
                             Atlanta, Georgia 30309
                                 (404) 815-3758
================================================================================

                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
================================================================================
Proposed Maximum        Proposed Maximum
  Title of Securities         Amount to be         Offering Price Per      Aggregate Offering              Amount of
    to be Registered            Registered             Share(1)                 Price(1)                Registration Fee
  -------------------         ------------         ------------------      ------------------           ----------------
Options and shares of
no par value Common            1,875,000                 $11.50                $21,562,500                  $5,391
Stock                           Shares
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1)      Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee
         pursuant to Rule 457(c).
==============================================================================
2

                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

ITEM 3.  INCORPORATION OF DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE.

         The documents listed below are hereby incorporated by reference into
this Registration Statement, and all documents subsequently filed by the Company
pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all
securities offered have been sold or which deregisters all securities then
remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this
Registration Statement and to be part hereof from the date of filing such
documents:

1.       The Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
         December 31, 1999;
2.       The Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March
         31, 2000;
3.       The Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June
         30, 2000;
4.       The Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended
         September 30, 2000; and
5.       The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
         Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A as filed with the
         Commission on April 30, 1998.

ITEM 4.  DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES.

         No response is required to this item.

ITEM 5.  INTERESTS OF NAMED EXPERTS AND COUNSEL.

         No response is required to this item.

ITEM 6.  INDEMNIFICATION OF OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS.

         The Company's Bylaws provide that in actions other than in the right of
the Company, the Company shall indemnify a director or officer of the Company
against costs, charges, expenses (including attorney's fees), judgments, fines
and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such director
or officer in connection with any action, suit or proceeding if he or she acted
in good faith and in a manner which he or she reasonably believed to be in or
not opposed to the best interest of the Company.

         The indemnification provisions contained in the Company's Bylaws are
substantially coextensive with the provisions of Sections 48-18-501 to 48-18-509
of the Tennessee Business Corporation Act, which sets forth the applicable
terms, conditions and limitations governing the indemnification of officers,
directors and other persons.

ITEM 7.  EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION CLAIMED.

         No response to this item is required.

                                      II-1
3

ITEM 8.  EXHIBITS.

         The following exhibits are filed with this Registration Statement.
EXHIBIT
         NUMBER            DESCRIPTION OF EXHIBIT
         ------            ----------------------
5.1              Opinion of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP

         10.1              2000 Stock Option Plan

         23.1              Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP

         23.2              Consent of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP (contained in their opinion filed as
                           Exhibit 5.1)

         24.1              Powers of Attorney (contained on the signature page to this Registration
                           Statement)
ITEM 9.  UNDERTAKINGS.

         (a)      The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

                  (1)      To file, during any period in which offers or sales
         are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration
         Statement to include any material information with respect to the plan
         of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement
         or any material change to such information in the Registration
         Statement;

                  (2)      That, for the purpose of determining any liability
         under the Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment
         shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the
         securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that
         time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

                  (3)      To remove from registration by means of a
         post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which
         remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

         (b)      The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for
purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each
filing of the Registrant's Annual Report pursuant to section 13(a) or section
15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that is incorporated by reference
in the Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new Registration Statement
relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities
at the time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

                                      II-2
4

         (c)      Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling
persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise,
the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and
Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for
indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the
Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling
person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or
proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in
connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in
the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent,
submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such
indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will
be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

                                      II-3
5

                                   SIGNATURES

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the
Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all
of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration
statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly
authorized, in the City of Franklin, State of Tennessee, on this 19th day of
December, 2000.

                                      FRANKLIN FINANCIAL CORPORATION

                                      By:  /s/ Richard E. Herrington
                                           -------------------------------------
                                           Richard E. Herrington
                                           President and Chief Executive Officer

         KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature
appears below constitutes and appoints Gordon E. Inman and Richard E. Herrington
and each of them, his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with
full power of substitution and resubstitution for him or her, in his or her
name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments
(including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement, and to
file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection
therewith, including a Registration Statement filed under Rule 462(b) of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do
and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in
and about the premises as fully and to all intents and purposes as he or she
might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said
attorneys-in-fact and agents may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue
hereof.

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this
registration statement has been signed below by the following persons in the
capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature                                         Title                            Date
                  ---------                                         -----                            ----
/s/ Richard E. Herrington                              President, Chief Executive         December 19, 2000
------------------------------------                   Officer and  Director
Richard E. Herrington                                  (principal executive and
                                                       financial officer)

/s/ Lisa Musgrove                                      Senior Vice President and          December 19, 2000
------------------------------------                   Chief Financial Officer
Lisa Musgrove                                          (principal accounting officer)

/s/ Gordon E. Inman                                    Chairman of the Board              December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
Gordon E. Inman

/s/ Charles R. Lanier                                  Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
Charles R. Lanier
6
/s/ James W. Cross, IV                                 Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
James W. Cross, IV

/s/ D. Wilson Overton                                  Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
D. Wilson Overton

/s/ Edward M. Richey                                   Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
Edward M. Richey

/s/ Melody J. Smiley                                   Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
Melody J. Smiley

/s/ Edward P. Silva                                    Director                           December 19, 2000
--------------------------------------------
Edward P. Silva
7

                                  EXHIBIT INDEX
EXHIBIT
NUMBER                DESCRIPTION OF EXHIBIT
------                ----------------------
5.1                   Opinion of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP

10.1                  2000 Stock Option Plan

23.1                  Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP