Juliet Asante writes: Will Ghana attract investment for film sector or it’s all talk?
It was so cool to witness all the stars show up for the opening of #TylerPerry studios and I am sure many of us are sitting here saying uuuu! Aaaah!!!
One man can do this for a State and country! Last year alone, Atlanta as a State made over $10 billion from film and now with this addition of Tyler’s Studios, plus all the other studios there, I can imagine the next numbers that will come out.
Imagine the people who will be employed down the value chain. Imagine the branding! The trending of the State alone even at this opening. Imagine the money that will flow into the State.
Ok, so we don’t have the major studios that South Africa and others have. Well, we don’t have the minor studios as well! But what can we do?
At the closing of the Black Star International Film Festival, we asked for a few things to be done.
1) 30% tax rebate – the magic we need will not happen unless we up our game. No one will come to Ghana on a major level if we do not have tax rebates. We are joking! South Africa has almost 30-50%! Morocco over 28% now that is just Africa. I won’t even mention what other lesser endowed countries are doing. For Ghana to be considered as serious on our drive to make Ghana a film hub, this needs to happen!
2) We added our voice to the call to have a film authority. We have been asking for this for a long time. The Deputy Minister assured the industry at the opening of the festival that the film authority is right around the corner. We are still waiting!
So many have asked why this is needed? For one, who drives the goal of making Ghana a film hub? Whose responsibility is it? When a producer sets out to come to Ghana to do business, who do they contact and how do they get the right people? Who advocates and stands in for Ghana when the rest of the world is meeting and making strides? Remember that the Ghana Film Corporation was doing this perfectly until we sold it. REMEMBER?!
I was asked at Cannes Film Festival Cannes why Ghana wasn’t present when film commissioners around the continent were meeting to strategically position their markets?
And so we ask today: Will Ghana take the needed steps to attract investments we need in film or is this the best we can do?!