30 December, 2006

Published in the Times of Malta

A ROAD FOR MALTA

by Malcolm Scerri-Ferrante

With the shooting of a Granada TV movie, a BBC TV series and a few commercials in between, 2006 was a small taste of how a string of low-budget productions each year can generate a substantial economic activity. This results somewhat in a continuity of work that aids the development and growth of local crews. 

Unfortunately current crew numbers are not enough to satisfy the requirements of any increased and consistent production work that Malta is hoping to attract.

Besides promoting the island abroad Malta needs to put an equal emphasis on Training. 

Should Malta continue to try and attract more productions and should the few local professional crew members increase in numbers, both factors will sustain each other and will eventually elevate the much needed investors’ confidence in a local film infrastructure. Building an infrastructure, training crews and promoting Malta abroad are all equally important for the growth of a film business, indigenous or not.  Neglect one of these three factors and the others will suffer.

Like every country, Malta has its pros and cons.  English is widely spoken. The island is politically neutral. There are defined seasons, several sunny hours and the summer months are long and dry. The sun light has a unique quality which many filmmakers seek, especially in combination with the islands’ limestone. The island is very cosmopolitan and it provides an interesting lifestyle for crews who must reside for months. And for those who get bored with the island’s size Malta is well connected with many European cities. The government is pro-active in providing permits for public locations. The water tanks at Rinella are still unique in Europe. And although the competing tanks in Mexico are great assets, the sea there is cooler than the Mediterranean and can sometimes pose a problem for actors. The warm and clear Mediterranean sea alone is an asset and the island’s locations, however limited they are becoming, can portray several Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries. Also, the island’s construction tradesmen are highly skilled for set building.

On the other hand, the uniqueness of certain locations is decreasing due to the ongoing construction of new buildings or so called ‘progress’. There also exists a real problem of overpricing and to some lesser but nevertheless significant extent producers who are not too careful occasionally find themselves caught in none other than daylight robbery. There is also a hidden cost when importing film equipment, especially through the sea ports. Moreover, producers at times do not get the best equipment deals from abroad because of traveling times to and from Malta and an extended hire period. There is a lack of professional crew and only a handful of keys who can service only certain departments. The fact that many crew members are absent means producers must fly in, accommodate and pay for living costs of foreign crews.  Sound stages still do not exist.  This is the reality.

An indigenous industry

Without doubt Malta cannot be expected to churn out hundreds of commercially viable home-grown movies each year.  But is the size of Malta really an excuse for the total inexistence of an indigenous film industry? Why could Malta not be co-producing a couple of movies each year, movies that are watchable at the very least and which at best are commercially viable beyond the island’s shores?

There is a lot of emerging talent in Malta but unfortunately many lack that push for further professional development.  On the other hand, whilst other countries have many training programmes and investor incentives to aid emerging talented filmmakers, the competition to access them is also great.  Many do not wait for the government “to help them” and instead they simply embark on making their own short movies until they have improved and acquired the necessary experience to make the big leap to TV or features.

Skill and attitude are essential, but the two P’s of success in this business are Patience and Persistence.

Developing the servicing film industry

A healthy fully-fledged film servicing industry can be a catalyst in creating an indigenous industry. Developing such a film industry, particularly a servicing one, does not have to be brain surgery.

Malta has the following priorities to deal with:

1) The creation of sound stages;

2) The fixing of an attractive percentage for the cash rebate given to producers on local expenditure and making far less exclusions then the current incentive in place. A ceiling could be created as a general rule to ensure that total annual rebates do not exceed the allocated government budget and also to help ensure that low to medium budget films will benefit most from these incentives. Additional incentives should be given to productions that portray Malta as Malta since the distribution of such films would have an obvious increased economic benefit through the tourism industry.

3) Other tax incentives need to be created to encourage Maltese investors and companies to invest in home-grown productions which are co-produced internationally and which have at least one distribution agreement in place.

4) Build on the already existing tax incentives for Maltese companies which are set up specifically to produce or co-produce in the film industry, or to invest in the local infrastructure.

5) Subsidizing training schemes in order to help build up local human resources. One example is giving soft conditional loans to those individuals interested in undertaking short courses abroad in approved institutions. Also very effective would be the organisation of local training courses, however short, with foreign experts.

6) Expediting the VAT refund scheme.  The government is already showing an effort to be more production-friendly, but faster application deadlines and processing times should be the general rule and not the exception.

7) Attracting investment into Mediterranean Film Studios (MFS), a crucial asset to Malta’s film industry, before the tanks lose their uniqueness in Europe in 2008.

Whilst it is no secret that MFS is in dire need of investment and a long term business plan, in all fairness it is today a success story of survival through much needed drastic cost-cutting practices and an improved handling of customer relations, especially when compared to certain dark periods of its 42-year old history.

The future 

Any future management promising to invest substantially in MFS should strive at topping it’s performance in customer friendliness as well as continue to give proper emphasis on cost-efficiency and fair pricing. The greatest challenge for every studio management is that ultimately it must speak the universal language of film. With investment put in the right places, coupled with a healthy Maltese film servicing industry, MFS will easily become a world leader in water special-effects despite growing competition. 

Over the next years financial incentives shall continue to be a fundamental driving force for producers’ decisions of whether to shoot in Malta or not, especially when compared to some competing and more affordable countries.

The Gap Analysis report currently being prepared by a London-based firm should present the government with scientific proof in order to finally make major investments and long-term commitments.  This report is a costly exercise not so much in terms of money as in time. Hopefully it shall be reliable and it will not be relegated to the Ministry’s basement but it shall be acted upon promptly, leading Malta steadily into a bright future of this developing and rewarding industry.