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Joburg Film Office Manager Monique Griffith on Efforts to Lure More Shoots to South Africa’s Largest City

In June local officials approved the creation of the Joburg Film Office, a move that will facilitate productions to happen in South Africa’s biggest and wealthiest city. Billing it as a “one-stop shop” for foreign producers looking to shoot in Johannesburg, JFO executive manager Monique Griffith sat down with Variety to discuss what the film office will mean for South Africa’s economic engine.

Johannesburg is the third South African city to open a film office, following Cape Town and Durban. Why was this a good time to launch the JFO?

All three cities have very unique selling points as location destinations. Since our film, media and television sectors are vibrant, well-established, and have institutional thickness, we thought it best to do more to improve the ease and cost effectiveness of filming in the city to encourage more local and international productions here—which in turn will stimulate the local economy and create more job opportunities for our youth. In other words, if you have the studios, experienced crews, equipment and other components of the value chain, why not maximize the sector and “sweat” its intrinsic assets? The fact is, Joburg can and should attract more film productions and the film office is an idea after its time.

Johannesburg is the country’s largest city, and its economic hub. But from the perspective of the film industry, it doesn’t have the reputation of Cape Town, which is well-known to foreign producers, or Durban, which hosts the country’s oldest and biggest film festival. Why Joburg?

We are not only the economic hub, we are an epicenter of creative arts, culture, and the support structures for all of the above. We actually are a city of film but have not shone the bright lights on that fact. Our advantage was taken for granted for many years, and as a result, we lost industry positioning. In fact, much of what you see today in South Africa is a result of the Joburg film industry, its education institutions, state-of-the-art studios, presence of the national broadcaster, headquarters of satellite TV providers, and a host of other film support structures that makes the sector robust here.

In Joburg, our unique value and emphasis is on the “home grown.” We have a large industry of independent producers who tell stories that speak to our local audiences. In collaboration with them, our focus is to facilitate more productions for local audiences who want to consume stories that speak to their experiences – good or bad, encouraging or disheartening – and are relevant to the lenses from which they perceive the world.

We, of course, seek to attract and support foreign productions because they keep our industry up to date with global trends and the latest equipment. However, we strongly believe our local industry needs a home that encourages its growth and sustainability. Like tourism and theatre, once your home industry is robust, it attracts others to consume what we do.

What specific measures is the JFO looking at to help showcase what the city has to offer?

The JFO first and foremost wants to emphasize and meet the ideals of being a “film-friendly” city. That means streamlining the permit process, taking it online, and ensuring interdepartmental coordination. The online platform will also host a wealth of information including industry research, databases of film resources and crews. We seek to refine the tariff structures where possible to make them affordable for emerging filmmakers. We also plan to establish better communication channels to disseminate information to residents about filming activities that impact them.

Secondly, we will work closely with our national and provincial bodies to support their efforts to market the country for productions. Under the national and provincial banner, we will sell Johannesburg as the location of choice by developing value propositions that speak to location scouts and producers. The city has also supported the development of the Joburg Film Festival, which launches on 28 October, and, for the last three years, have supported Discop Africa, a television content market where productions from across the continent of Africa are traded.

Additional sector support activities – some current, others in near future – include audience development in the largely underserved townships by way of theatrical screens, as well as down-streaming/VOD; strengthening emerging filmmakers, targeted groups and small businesses servicing the film sector; skills training and facilitating access to on-set training; incentivising industry transformation; and strengthening the discourse between government and industry stakeholders.

How do you see the JFO working with its counterparts in other cities to benefit the South African industry as a whole?

Griffith: We all see the need to increase the flow of productions into South Africa overall. If the country attracts film, it benefits us all because one, productions know no borders, they will shoot in various cities if our locations work for their story; two, our crews know no border, they work across cities. If there are more productions nationally, crew stay busy, increase their skills and keep us globally competitive. And three, when we are flooded with productions, sought-after crew get engaged and leave room for others to be brought on set to deepen our pool of skills.

With the above in mind, the JFO seeks to collaborate with sister cities. When we attract productions to Joburg but there are scenes that are better suited for other parts of the nation, we will facilitate the engagements between the producers and those cities and provinces. Additionally, we as the JFO have a desire to share in the development of national statistics and research that will support the sector and assist us as local government to identify gaps that need addressing in support of the country’s film agenda.

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