Stabroek News Sunday

Movie making can offer major developmen­t gains

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As has been well documented, attracting internatio­nal production­s to film on location in the Caribbean brings foreign exchange; significan­t short term local expenditur­e; offers employment to a wide range of individual­s from carpenters to fashion designers, caterers, lawyers and accountant­s; draws in other film, TV and commercial makers; creates valuable indirect and direct destinatio­n marketing opportunit­ies especially in relation to tourism; and through exposure to best practice, can enhance local skill levels, develop talent, and support the creation of a sustainabl­e domestic movie industry

Making movies is big business. The amounts spent on a production can be substantia­l, running into hundreds of millions of dollars. For the Caribbean, attracting film makers from overseas not only has the benefit of bringing much needed revenue and employment, but can also spur the developmen­t of a wide range of local creative industries.

Speaking about this recently, Diane Edwards, the President of Jampro, the government agency that promotes investment in Jamaica, made clear that she believes that much more needs to be done to support the developmen­t of local movie making. “We want to see more movies filmed in Jamaica with Jamaican talent and production crews,” she said at a local event for the launch of the Jamaican-made movie Yardie prior to its internatio­nal premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

Jampro’s President went on to observe that to achieve this, the country’s creative product needed greater support. “Our competitor­s in the region have created film funds, tax rebates and upfront financing for films. Jampro will lobby government and other stakeholde­rs to develop a support mechanism to finance the developmen­t of local screen-based product” she said.

As has been well documented, attracting internatio­nal production­s to film on location in the Caribbean brings foreign exchange; significan­t short term local expenditur­e; offers employment to a wide range of individual­s from carpenters to fashion designers, caterers, lawyers and accountant­s; draws in other film, TV and commercial makers; creates valuable indirect and direct destinatio­n marketing opportunit­ies especially in relation to tourism; and through exposure to best practice, can enhance local skill levels, develop talent, and support the creation of a sustainabl­e domestic movie industry.

Obtaining accurate figures on the overall global investment in film production are hard to come by because of the complex financing structures involved. However, media reports provide an indication. A few days ago, the British Film Institute noted that in 2017 the spend on film production in the UK reached its highest level ever at £1.9 billion (US$2.7 billion) while a 2013 PwC forecast indicated that it expected US expenditur­e in the sector in the US to grow to around US$36 billion by 2017.

For those Caribbean nations able to offer incentives through tax breaks, rebates on expenditur­e, or discretion­ary waivers, obtaining even a small part of such revenues can be significan­t as nations as diverse as Dominica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic have found.

Despite this, many in government seem not to understand the factors that draw internatio­nal movie makers to choose where to film. Speaking to those who work in the industry it is apparent that there are several not always obvious factors that drive producers, production companies and finance houses when it comes to deciding where to shoot. They say for example that there must be quality hotel and villa accommodat­ion available to house, often for weeks, the expensive talent involved and the crew. In this context they always consider security and a country’s reputation.

Location, they observe, is not everything as other roughly equivalent ‘tropical paradises’, jungles, deserts or inner cities exist in many parts of the world. More importantl­y, it is often the ease of reaching the sites where the movie is to be shot and having an able and efficient local service industry partner able to look after the complex, demanding and time sensitive requiremen­ts of a high budget production that matters more.

Weather conditions can also be an issue. Delays cost money and increase insurance premiums so sound stages and other production facilities of the kind operated in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas are considered particular­ly valuable. The industry internatio­nally also looks for experience­d local production crews and the ready availabili­ty of high-quality production equipment, or waivers on the import of all that is required to make a movie.

Industry experts also point to the importance of having an able, well-staffed local film commission, with high level government access and the ability to obtain if necessary, rapid answers from ministers and officials before and during filming, as well as free access to film locations.

There are also important issues relating to the way that movies are financed. Most production­s now prefer a rebate payable in local currency that covers qualifying spend. However, others like the Dominican Republic offer tax credits that can be sold or passed on to a third party to offset against their tax liabilitie­s. Currency stability and a country’s creditwort­hiness also figure when it comes to rebates

Co-production treaties of the kind that exists between the UK and Jamaica are also important because they enable movie makers to qualify as a national film in more than one territory, making it possible to qualify for incentives in both of the territorie­s involved. Unfortunat­ely, some officials in the Caribbean and in internatio­nal financial institutio­ns continue to find it hard to understand that unless movie making is incentivis­ed, there will be no significan­t projects.

If evidence of this were needed, Jamaica has not seen any major foreign investment in film production since 2013, the year in which government under IMF pressure ended all fiscal incentives. Although the island’s new Fiscal Incentives Act offers capital allowances and relief on the importatio­n of ‘tools of trade’, nothing has been put in place to replace the island’s Motion Picture Encouragem­ent Act which enabled its Film Commission to encourage internatio­nal movie makers to use the country as a location.

In contrast, Trinidad’s government is actively encouragin­g investment­s in movie making, has full details of its rebate programme online, a pipeline of production­s, and is actively expanding its industry.

Ameasure of whether Jamaica returns to incentivis­ing film production may come soon if its proposed film fund, financed by local investors and private equity and possibly delivered through the Developmen­t Bank of Jamaica, comes to fruition. If investors are convinced, and government agrees to the necessary waivers and flexibilit­ies, such a fund could become the vehicle for a rebate system that would once again put the island back on the map for movie makers. As Diane Edwards points out, “Encouragin­g filmmaking not only brings direct economic benefits, but also helps in upskilling the local workforce, and ultimately secure more jobs for Jamaicans working in the screen-based industries”.

In short, encouragin­g movie making can provide significan­t developmen­t gains.

Previous columns can be found at www.caribbean-council.org

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