Making movies is big business. The amounts spent on a production can be substantial, running into hundreds of millions of dollars. For the Caribbean, attracting film makers from overseas not only has the benefit of bringing much needed revenue and employment, but can also spur the development of a wide range of local creative industries.
Speaking about this recently, Diane Edwards, the President of Jampro, the government agency that promotes investment in Jamaica, made clear that she believes that much more needs to be done to support the development of local movie making. “We want to see more movies filmed in Jamaica with Jamaican talent and production crews,” she said at a local event for the launch of the Jamaican-made movie Yardie prior to its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
Jampro’s President went on to observe that to achieve this, the country’s creative product needed greater support. “Our competitors in the region have created film funds, tax rebates and upfront financing for films. Jampro will lobby government and other stakeholders to develop a support mechanism to finance the development of local screen-based product” she said.
