COMMERCIALS NEWS

CFC calls for meeting over permits, locations

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:47

Cape Film Commission (CFC) CEO Denis Lillie is inviting the commercials and advertising sector in Cape Town to meet with him and the CFC management team on 6 December to discuss concerns over permits and locations. This follows the circulation of a petition by the Commercial Producers Association (CPA) and the South African Association of Stills Producers (SAASP), signed by more than 1,000 individuals in the industry, calling on the Mayor of Cape Town and the Premier of the Western Cape to address the film industry locations crisis.

The message from Lillie reads: This is an open invitation to companies and individuals working in the commercials and advertising industries and any other interested and affected industry parties to meet with the CEO and management team of the CFC to discuss their concerns over permits and locations.

It is unfortunate that as some involved in these industries have not interacted with the CFC directly in the past few months, they may be unaware of the work the CFC is doing to try and unlock new locations and streamline the overall permit process. This is designed to assist the broader industry and to ultimately take some of the pressure away from CTFPO.

The aim of this is to create a one stop shop environment and to create efficiencies in the booking process in relation to Provincial and parastatal property owners’ portfolios.

We have also been working closely with many of the local production companies and many inbound production companies to assist them with challenges they may have experienced whilst filming.

The Cape Film Commission would also like to use this opportunity to share some very good news with industry. We are proposing an interaction between the CFC and industry players to discuss these matters with a view to addressing them on 6th December from 8am to noon (venue to be confirmed).

Please express your willingness to attend this meeting by contacting Shamila Rahim - shamila@capefilmcommission.co.za no later than Friday 25 November 2011.

Please note that this meeting is designed to discuss the broader challenges the industry is facing in relation to booking government managed locations and is not a forum designed to discuss the Cape Town on-line booking system.

It is also aimed at stopping the unfortunate manner in which the issues are frequently debated publicly which is now clearly damaging the reputation of our local industry internationally. Please note that this concern has been voiced to the CFC by some major international industry players.

-The CPA and SAASP petition can be accessed at: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-mayor-of-cape-town-premier-of-the-western-cape-address-film-industry-locations-crisis.

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