Serie R: Attracting filmmakers and developing your region
"Attracting filmmakers and developing your region - A Guide and Toolbox on how to do it" has been published in Novia's own publication series in january 2023.
About this guidebook
The infrastructure that makes shooting in foreign locations possible involves for example the creative industries, the hospitality industries, unskilled labour and trained film professionals in the countries where shooting is taking place. This infrastructure enables not just the promotion of tourism, but also employment opportunities, knowledge sharing and country branding with long-term economic and transcultural effects.
The project FilmInd - The Indian film industry as a driver of new socio-economic connections between India and Europe therefore aimed to understand this mobilisation of European locations in Indian cinema and to link these practices to the contexts of tour ism, diplomacy, and new economic oppor tunities. The project also sought to understand how locations were chosen, the infrastructure of film productions in foreign locations, and the spill-over effects to other sectors in the region where productions take place. In recent years, European governments, tourism ministries and film commissions have actively started promoting their respective countries as film-shooting destinations. Locations are branded as film-friendly destinations and incentives such as cash rebates and professional services are offered. Because of the increased competition in attracting filmmakers to new locations, and thanks to the growing international circulation of Indian cinema, new types of cultural connections and economic cooperation opportunities between India and European countries are being created.
Whether you, for example, represent a governmental authority, work in destination marketing or within the creative field, you probably recognise the value that film productions could bring by attracting visitors and new inhabitants to an area. That this in turn, creates opportunities for local businesses is also unlikely to come as a surprise. You might not, however, possess the data or the tools needed to translate your thoughts and ideas into strategies and activities that will help attract film productions to your area. Determining how you or your organisation could make the most of the possible spill-over effects of film productions may also feel like a difficult task to take on. T
o copy what other places do, or to continue doing things as they have always been done might seem like easy options. If you instead start with a location’s unique assets – the heart and soul of the region and dare to think outside the box when it comes to regional development and place branding, if you make a conscious effort to see a region from new perspectives and stay open minded when involving stakeholders and collaboration partners in the development process, the results may surprise you. To help you do this, we have developed material in the form of a workshop concept and other tools based on the research conducted in the project FilmInd. The aim with this material is to help interested parties identify local strengths and inspire to mutual exchange and learning.
Our hope is that by using the material we have developed, stakeholders will be coordinated and compiled into new networks for further development and collaboration.