New Abu Dhabi Film Commission Head Talks Building Studio Space, Attracting Hollywood & Whether The UAE Could Get A Film Festival
Going forward, the goal is to make Abu Dhabi a consistent shooting hub for global producers. During the pandemic, the city never fully shut down shoots, with local productions continuing to film throughout. International production has been disrupted, as it has everywhere, but the hope is that the successful handling of the pandemic by the local authorities will mean international shoots can resume sooner rather than later.
Fraikin’s hire follows the merging of local majors Image Nation and TwoFour54 under Michael Garin, with the Film Commission spun out of that entity. The new commissioner walks us through the plans to make the city the go-to production hub in the region in his first interview in his new role.
I’ve known Michael [Garin] for a long time, when he took over as CEO at the newly-merged Image Nation and TwoFour54 he called and asked me if I’d like to set up the film commission. There was no Abu Dhabi Film Commission to speak of before, so I took on the challenge.There’s a real political will for Abu Dhabi to be the leader of film and TV production, and service production, in the region. I want us to be one of the go-to international filming destinations in the next 7-8 years.
: When COVID reared its ugly face, the government was really fast to react in terms of testing and safety measures. Abu Dhabi was one of the only places in the world where production continued. $100M of production has taken place during the last four months. The first ever Arabic soap opera, a show called, was one of the biggest ones to film during this period – we built a dedicated studio for them and they’ve shot 144 episodes already, 108 of which have been aired.
We are also looking to build the crew base. I have added a 5% top up on the rebate for locally hired crew and talent, if you hire someone that is residing in the city you get that bonus on top of the 30% rebate that already exists. We’re also putting together a visa program for creative workers, which is a fast track visa for anybody from overseas with experience and talent who wishes to work in Abu Dhabi. We need them, we already have a couple of dozen projects in our pipeline.
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