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Business - A shot in the arm for Grand Bahama
WELCOME BAHAMAS - NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND - 2007
Business - A shot in the arm for Grand Bahama
Moviemaking rings cash registers
Hours after a Walt Disney production crew arrived in Grand Bahama in May 2005, previously dormant cash registers began ringing throughout Freeport.
In February, after 160 days of shooting parts of two movies in the wildly successful Pirates of the Caribbean series, the cast and crew flew home to California, leaving an estimated $38 million behind in Bahamian tills.
When the movies were being filmed at The Bahamas Film Studios at Gold Rock Creek, for example, the whole island enjoyed an economic boomlet, largely because of the 75,000-room nights that were logged over that period.
About $70 million has been injected by the film, advertising and related industries into the Bahamian economy over the past few years, according to Craig Woods, head of the Bahamas Film Commission.
?Large feature films account for about $55 million of that total,? says commissioner Woods, but ?our staple business over the past year has been commercial photo shoots, video productions and still photography for magazines.?
He says the average commercial production injects about $200,000 into local economies. Commercials filmed in The Bahamas recently include those for Air Canada, American Express, Budweiser, Cadbury?s, Rolex and Fuji Film.
Strengthening the domestic film-making industry helps the Bahamian economy in several ways. As well as giving the country?s attractions international exposure, the film industry also provides economic diversification, helping to reduce the country?s reliance on the number one moneymaker, tourism. And the shift should be a sustained one, says Woods, as The Bahamas is developing its own film-making industry. Having apprenticed with foreign film-makers, some Bahamians are now directing, shooting and producing movies.
The bond between the financial services and film industries was strengthened in January 2007 when Bahamas FilmInvest, a group structured by banker Owen Bethel (also president and managing director of The Montaque Group), reached an agreement to acquire the rights to develop The Bahamas? Film Studios on Grand Bahama, where parts of the two Pirates of the Caribbean movies were filmed.
Junkanoo, sharks and revenge
Making movies here is neither a new nor a surprising phenomenon, given The Bahamas? natural beauty and its proximity to the United States. Among other things, producers love the country?s predictable sunny weather for exterior shots.
Over the past few decades, audiences have seen Sean Connery, as James Bond in Thunderball, battle his way through downtown Nassau during a Junkanoo celebration (1965); Michael Caine match wits with a mechanical shark off New Providence in Jaws: The Revenge (1987); and Anthony Hopkins as the terrifying Hannibal Lecter, following his next hapless victim down an idyllic Bimini road in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
However, the moviemaking business hit a high point in the past three and a half years with no less than eight feature films being shot almost consecutively at various locations:
? Oct-Dec 2003 ? After the Sunset;
? Jan-April 2004 ? Into the Blue;
? April-May 2004 ? Three;
? Summer 2004 ? Open Water;
? June-July 2004 ? Eye of the Dolphin;
? May 2005-Feb 2006 ? Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man?s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World?s End;
? Feb-April 2006 ? Casino Royale.
?That?s pretty significant,? says Woods. The Bahamas Film Commission, established within the Ministry of Tourism in 1985, coordinates films, television series, commercials, fashion shoots, magazine covers and other film-related projects in The Bahamas each year.
Working with limitations
Even though The Bahamas is emerging as one of the world?s top locations for film-making, Woods explains there are still some limitations due to the country?s lack of production equipment and expertise. However, this in no way hampers the quality of a film. Pirates of the Caribbean II, which broke all-time box office records, and the smash hit Casino Royale were both superbly crafted films.
?They are both very positive and strong franchises, but at the end of the day they were both well made by great companies, great casts and great directors,? says Woods.
Woods says The Bahamas can easily put together one production unit ?but if a company needs a second unit director, we need to look around and see who can do it?after that, we?re stretched,? he adds.
But Woods was ?just delighted? that The Bahamas was able to snag the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. ?When you consider we don?t have equipment, that both films worked with us and weren?t discouraged by our limitations ? As a matter of fact, they showed us where our limitations could be turned into very positive things?we were working with some of the best people in Hollywood and there?s no substitute for that ? you can?t learn [what they taught us] in any classroom.?
The Bahamas Film Commission encourages producers to include Bahamian trainees in projects so
they can learn, first-hand, the tools of the trade.
Before filming can begin an application must be completed and submitted to the commission. As well, the film company must take a number of steps so that the commission can facilitate filming.
These requirements include a letter of intent introducing the company and lists of the locations required, members of the cast and crew, photographic equipment, props, and wardrobe items, a budget and special requirements such as traffic control, casino locations and helicopter permits.
?There are certain protocols,? Woods admits, ?but we try to project ourselves as a film-friendly location. We want people to be very conscious of the fact that this isn?t something that?s happening every week or even every year?we have to go after (film productions) and encourage them to come to our location.?
Home to the stars
Aside from attracting film projects, The Bahamas also attracts leading actors to establish a home here.
Lyford Cay resident Sean Connery starred in three James Bond pictures, Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983). Nicolas Cage, who co-starred with Connery in The Rock (1996), has a home on Paradise Island and recently acquired an island in the Exumas. And Johnny Depp, star of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, also calls an island in the Exumas home.
?(Depp?s) private life is his private life and we appreciate and respect that, but we?re delighted that he chose to buy an island in The Bahamas and raise his family there,? says Woods. ?If he brings more films here, we?re happy for that as well.?
Woods reminds celebrity actors of one more thing that might interest them in The Bahamas: ?There?s no such thing as Bahamian paparazzi.?
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