PROINTERVIEW
build three- and four-star hotels.
MBC’s sound stage was officially launched in July.
What is the current occupancy rate in Dubai Studio City? Dubai Studio City is 100% occupied. Our 18 boutique studios and office spaces have also been leased out. What are the typical challenges that you face in your day-to-day dealings with film and TV entities and productions houses? Filmmaking is challenging. Having said that, anyone working in this field accepts them as part of the job and takes them in their stride. We have been fighting cynicism from the day we decided to establish Studio City, and the Film and TV Commission. We have defied people who thought we were crazy to build studios in the middle of the desert. Figures prove that there is a huge demand for our facilities and it is only increasing by the day. There are 342 companies operating from Dubai Studio City, out of which 190 are production houses and ancillary companies related to production,
with 45 production support services companies and about 40 broadcasters. We have 17 TV channels broadcasting from Dubai Studio City in addition to 171 from Dubai Media City making a total of 188 channels broadcasting from Dubai. How far has Dubai Film and TV Commission been successful in encouraging local talent? We are working with filmmakers
Pipeline for 2013:
* 15 large projects will be shot in Dubai. Out of these, six are TV series (five Arabic TV series and one Turkish) and nine are feature films (Hindi, American & two English from the UAE). * 445 applications have been approved by Dubai Studio City from Jan to July this year. * Five TV drama series were shot in Dubai from Jan to July. 10 films were shot in the same period. * The total spend on film and TV translates into a value chain of close to USD 15 million.
August 2013 | www.broadcastprome.com |
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