Creation of a location of choice
KZN FILM COMMISSION IS ON A DRIVE TO PROMOTE BUSINESSSAVVY MOVIE-MAKING IN THE PROVINCE,WRITES
GIVEN MAJOLA SIPHELELE BUTHELEZI
in the province.
“Investors always want to make sure that it makes business sense and I think now we have proven to them, that this is the time to invest in KZN,” she said.
Film-maker Anant Singh’s Durban studio at the old Natal Command Site is one of a number of investments through film that the province has seen recently.
Coetzee said that the box office smash hit, Keeping Up With The Kandasamys, which was locally produced, had been funded in part by the commission.
The commission said it also believes another critical opportunity, for example, for business, is to increase brand awareness of South African films.
Of the 106 films released in South Africa in the first half of last year, 10 were locally made and brought in R30m, representing 5% of the total box office taking of R568m.
In the last financial year, the South African film industry is said to have had over R12bn impact on the local economy, with direct impact of R4.4bn on economic production, an indirect impact of R4.9bn and an induced benefit of R3bn.
Job creation, creating opportunities for entrepreneurship to thrive, incentives for producers, boosting local tourism, and robust infrastructure, were seen as some of the main factors behind the industry boom.
Local and foreign film-makers were taking advantage of the country’s diverse, unique locations as well as low production costs and the favourable exchange rate, which make it cheaper to make a movie here than in Europe or the US.
Coetzee said film-makers were in awe of the province’s rural areas with the rolling green mountains. She said areas such as the South Coast, Newcastle and the Drakensberg were popular among film-makers.
“The KZNFC is poised to develop audiences, understand what they want and implement strategies to engage with them. Product placement in film provides a huge opportunity for business to access the industry, businesses can use this platform to create brand awareness,” she said.
The Film Commission’s role was to market KZN to the world as a “location of choice”.
“Our role is to promote Kwazulu-natal as a location of choice, going out nationally and internationally to get producers to come here into the region.
“We strive to consistently improve in supporting film producers and local artists and companies that want to build this industry.
“Our focus is to grow filmmaking in Kwazulu-natal and in doing so, attract investment which benefits the broader South African society,” said Coetzee.
The KZNFC, which has been around for four years, said it had been helping in film production costs for productions that would typically be lost to other provinces.
“Our film fund of about R10 to R12m a year and we have been able to leverage R112m (through) projects that we currently have on our portfolio. We currently have about 10 to 12 productions each year,” said Coetzee.
“For every rand we invest in an additional R4m is spent in the economy. The economic multiplier effect of 2.9 you get a further spin-off of all businesses that are affected by the industry,” she said.
One of the fund’s conditions for producers is that half of the film should be spent in the province for the benefit of the industries.
Asked about the perceived lack of support for filmmakers, Coetzee said: “The National Film and
Video Foundation also funds, the Department of Trade and Industry also has funding as well, they have a black filmmakers fund where they will fund up to 50% of the production budget.
“So if you take those three agencies together, film agents should be able to procure between 50% to 90% of their film budget.”
Coetzee said there were also foreign film and television production and post production incentives offered such as tax reductions.
“This will encourage and attract large-budget films and television productions and postproduction work. This contributes towards employment creation, enhancement of South Africa’s international profile and increase the country’s creative and technical skills base.”
The SA Revenue Service, through Section 12 of the Income Tax Act, provides for an exemption from normal tax, specifically income derived from the exploitation rights of a film.