Never before has the Western Cape been so popular as a destination for the filming of movies, television dramas and documentaries, commercials and stills photography.

The province’s alpine mountains and lakes, tropical-style beaches and rugged rocky coastlines, rolling wheat-fields, skyscrapers and industrial plants are being appropriated by the local and international film industry and transformed into downtown Los Angeles, the Serengeti, the Swiss Alps, the Bahamas and Hong Kong harbour.

No less than four international films are being shot in the Western Cape at present and Samuel L Jackson and Juliette Binoche are in town to film Antjie Krog’s book on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Country of my Skull.

The $15-million film is to be shot over the next ten weeks.

A plus for the province is that the film will showcase locations in and around Cape Town rather than having Cape Town standing in for somewhere else.

Because of the filming activity, daily announcements of road closures in Cape Town are commonplace, and while it can be frustrating to be held up or rerouted by a film shoot, the spin-offs for Cape Town and the Western Cape cannot be ignored.

For instance, it is estimated that the film industry in the Western Cape is worth R2-billion a year in direct and indirect economic spin-offs, which represents about 25% of the total national value of the film industry.

Growth rates of 20% over the next two years are estimated.

As a province, the Western Cape also accounts for 58% of commercials filmed in South Africa.

The film industry is highly labour-intensive and is known for the economic spin-offs that it generates in local economies.

Internationally, major film productions have been known to spend as much as R650 000 a day on local employment and services, while television productions can spend R500 000.

Television commercials spend as much as R450 000 a day, while even the smallest stills photography shoot generates R350 000 for a week-long shoot.

Each production results in jobs for camera operators, sound and lighting technicians, caterers, plumbers, carpenters, animal trainers, truckdrivers, make-up artists, graphic artists, photographers, set designers, painters and actors. Production budgets are spent on a range of products including hardware, props, plants, steel, paint, timber, curtains, carpets, furniture, portable dressing rooms, generators, saddle makers, restaurants and hotel rooms.

As an example, the contract to supply chipboard for the Cape-based production of Home Alone 4 came to more than R1-million.

A visit to the Cape Film Commission offices, from where chief operating officer Martin Cuff is promoting Cape Town and the Western Cape as a world-class production destination, is further evidence of Cape Town’s burgeoning film industry; the commission’s office in Loop Street is a hive of activity and has to be the busiest in Cape Town.

Tragically, one of the reasons the office is bursting at its seams is that the Cape Film Commission has been asked to take over the task of issuing permits for film shoots, following the closure of the Cape Town Film Office on March 19 and the suspension of some of its senior members.

The City of Cape Town’s internal audit department is investigating allegations that film office staff have been issuing fake permits and pocketing the fees for film shoots.

Cuff says that it is the flourishing of the film industry, which has identified it as one of the province’s key economic growth sectors, and the construction of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, which has proved that public–private partnerships can work, which has prompted the provincial government and its partners the City of Cape Town, Cape Film Commission and Wesgro to commit to the construction of a film studio in Cape Town.

During the Sithengi film festival, held in November last year, the Western Cape Minister for Economic Development, Ebrahim Rasool, called for expressions of interest (EoI) in establishing a film studio in the province.

The closing date for the EoI submissions was January 6, 2003, and altogether 13 submissions were received from local and international consortia and individuals.

These, with their initial participants indicated in parentheses, are:
1. Cape Town Film Studio. Consortium (Mkhonto weSizwe Investment Holdings).
2. Cape Town Studios (Prop. Trust/Kovacks Investments 552, Alladin Pohjan, Albert van Rensburg and Anton Nel).
3. Comet Corporation.
4. The Dreamworld Trust (Mike McCarthy, Gert Claasen, Hlumelo Biko, Luswazi Vokwana, Rod McPhail, Andy Miles, Sandulela and Black Film and Video Makers Association).
5. Ekapa Film Consortium (SA Film Finance Corporation, The Imaginarium, Kopano ke Matla (Cosatu’s investment wing) and Ziko Strategies SA).
6. Ikamva Investment Holdings.
7. Kwezi V3 Engineering (Cinegate Africa, Kwezi V3 Engineers, Huysamer Capital Investors and Tourcor SA).
8. Mpower Property Concepts (Mpower Property Concepts, Wragge international filmmaker, Blue Moon Corporate Communications and Welcome Msomi Communications).
9. Ndabeni Communal Property Trust (Ndabeni Communal Property Trust, Sasani Studios, Moonlighting Films and Hybrid Films.
10. Scott Holeman.
11. UCT Faculty of Humanities.

Interest in the proposed film studio has also been expressed by Anant Singh’s Videovision and Challenge Productions.

Last month it was reported that Durban-based Singh has also offered R15-million for a prime Durban beachfront site for the establishment of a Hollywood-type film studio.

The 12 ha site houses the South African National Defence Force military base, Natal Command, at present.

Singh’s agent, Mike Miles, of Ridge Bay Development, says that while Videovision had registered an interest with the Western Cape government, Singh wanted Durban to be his first choice to initiate a film industry.

Cuff believes that Singh will go with whichever development kicks off first.

“One of the most impressive things about the bidding, for an industry that is not renowned for its transformation, is that these consortia have gone to such lengths to make sure their proposals are going to have as wide a benefit as possible,” says Cuff.

For example, the Ndabeni Communal Property Trust, which is a land claim recipient, has said that by selling its land for a film studio, rather than for individual housing, it can be used for the wider benefit of the whole community.

The Youngsfield site has already had a taste of a Hollywood film when one of the hangars was refurbished at a cost of R1,2-million for the filming of Home Alone 4.

The 13 consortia are to submit comprehensive business plans by June 2.

Meanwhile Minister Rasool has met with the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the City of Cape Town, the Cape Film Commission and Wesgro to decide on the support package that the public sector will be offering to the selected partner.

Government’s primary offerings will include access to land and zoning assistance: here the public sector’s involvement will depend on the proposed site.

Bulk infrastructure, which is seen as a core responsibility of government, and access to financing will also be provided: government involvement in a project of this nature naturally creates confidence and facilitates access to finances for the preferred partners.

Moreover, city and provincial authorities have entered into discussions with organisations like the IDC and the DBSA in order to further facilitate access to funds from these organisations.

Government will also offer access to DTI incentives for the construction of the film studio: the provincial government met with the DTI to discuss what incentives would be applicable and how to fast-track access to these funds for the preferred partner.

Finally, it willl also offer support from the NFVF: the NFVF indicated that the proposed development of film studio capacity within Cape Town is in line with the national government strategy and will therefore enjoy its support.

Government’s secondary offerings will include assistance in negotiations around local rates and tax rebates; a coordinated ‘lobbying’ initiative at a national level for incentives that will promote film production and, lastly, assistance in securing and coordinating training support from the Sectoral Education Training Authorities (Seta) and the National Film and Video Foundation.

Government has an objective to beef out this support package by May 1.

The locations earmarked by the consortia in their initial EoI as potential sites for the film studio include Conradie Hospital, Culemborg, the Wingfield Naval Base, Youngsfield Airbase, Baden Powell Drive along the R310, Stellenbosch, the canning factory in Paarl and the Good Hope Centre – a vast array of sites and an equally vast number of plans.

“They range from being ambitious film cities which stretch from Culemborg to Youngsfield, to expressions of interest such as the one from UCT to be the educational establishment on site linked to the studio,” says Cuff, who shares his vision for the city’s film studio.

“There is a misconception that a top-notch film studio has to be glamorous; it can be as simple as a soundproof warehouse with a high roof,” he says.

“The generally-held opinion is that we are looking for a complex made up of a number of sound stages – most major studios have five or six and up to as many as eight – accompanied by a number of workshops and offices, a space for the camera and equipment hire companies, as well as facilities like a hotel, delis, food shops and a residential area”.

The preferred sound stage size is 2 200 m2 and 20 m is the preferred height clearance.

“I’m also excited about the concept of a back lot, where there is a possibility, depending on where the studio is located, of building replicas of Long Street, for example, whose building fa

To subscribe to Engineering News's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.