The Chairman of the Dubai Film and TV Commission (DFTC) and Chief Commercial Officer of Dubai Creative Cluster Authority talk about Dubai's movie business.
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00:00So when I started the journey of Media City, then building the Studio City with the team here,
00:05was always to listen to our business partners, to listen to our filmmakers,
00:12who are locally based or they're coming outside,
00:15and find the best solutions to make their business easy in Dubai.
00:22At the end of the day, if you're here, you're here to make money,
00:27you're here to be secure, you're here to have a stable establishment and business.
00:33And that's what I brought in.
00:35The Film Commission was always associated with the Studio City and Media City and the filmmaking,
00:40and the National Media Council in Abu Dhabi, and Media Office in Dubai,
00:44and a few other also government and private sectors.
00:47And we brought in these board members to have them also understand the importance of this industry
00:56in Dubai and UAE.
00:58It's a money-making industry, like many other cities around the world.
01:02You know, this is an economy for them, and this plays a big role in our economy.
01:08In 2017, the total budget spent in Dubai of filmmaking reached up to 150 million dirhams.
01:17In 2016, more or less the same.
01:20In 2015, it was over 200 million because of Star Trek.
01:25So that tells you, one film comes in, brings in another 100 million more to your city.
01:30So these numbers are important for my GDP.
01:34So my role here is not just entertainment, but it's also to play on the positivity of the GDP in the city.
01:42The multiply effect of filmmaking, it's big in some cities.
01:46In Dubai, it's times one and a half.
01:49In some countries that apply tax, they have multiple tax.
01:53It goes up to two to three times.
01:56Star Trek spent a little over 110 million dirhams in Dubai in the course of three months.
02:03I don't think any other industry can spend in your city more than 100 million in three months.
02:12They hired more than 1,500 people around.
02:17They consumed a lot of goods.
02:20They consumed a lot of food.
02:22They rented a lot of room nights.
02:25They rented our studios.
02:27They used Emirates Airlines, long hauls.
02:31Over 150 people came from Canada and U.S.
02:35These all add up to come to a big fat number that's been spent in a city and then multiply effect.
02:43They discovered new people.
02:45Honestly, we registered three companies, as I recall, out of them.
02:49So when they left, we had people approaching us.
02:51Well, you know, I did this service for them.
02:53Now I want my license.
02:55So we're supporting entrepreneurs.
02:57One of them is actually Emirati, who established this office and it became bigger because they supported Star Trek
03:04and Jackie Chan film at the same time, plus a few others.
03:08So that's an entrepreneur.
03:10Again, small and medium-sized businesses will grow out of these big projects.
03:14That's why we are.
03:15That's why I'm here and the team is here.
03:17It's not by myself, but I have a good team that works with me and the government really supports that as well.
03:22I'm very much into social media through my accounts.
03:26I post a lot of pictures, but at the same time I do a lot of daily short vlogs.
03:33I don't go into personal lives of everyone or myself, but I do it based on where I am
03:38and the area I am by covering up, you know, positive news to the other side.
03:44I think sometimes it's important to share what you know and to share what you believe and to share your positivity with others.
03:53And I like it when I get comments back, people asking me, I'm an entrepreneur.
03:58I need some advice or I am studying or I am at school.
04:03What do you advise me?
04:04It's good, you know, people take your positive news as inspiring them to make changes in their life.
04:11You know, they ask you, you know, this is how you get to know.
04:16I mean, I'm not going to make a film, but it's short content.
04:19People ask you, especially young kids at school, how could I become you?
04:24How can I reach where you are?
04:26This is good.
04:27If you don't share it, they would never know.
04:30There's so much negativity out there also around these people.
04:33So it's good to push with positive so you could cover up that part.
04:37Maybe I will make a difference in someone's life.
04:39I don't know.
04:40So, yeah, I do film.
04:42I am into it.
04:44If you're asking if I would become a filmmaker, no, I would help them on a business side.
04:51Yes, I'm very interested on because I raised funds and films before.
04:55I structured budgets for filmmakers in Dubai, international companies and local filmmakers.
05:02I've advised, consulted a few others just as my daily job, nothing else from as a government.
05:10And they were successful.
05:13They came back.
05:14They thanked me because they have delivered what they aim for.
05:17And I think that's the most I could do.
05:20So I launched this product called VidXP last year.
05:23It was a big event, two-day event, 2017.
05:27It took place in Dubai World Trade Center.
05:29This was an initiative by a government and I proposed to our superiors here and they believed on it.
05:35And they said, fine, Jamal, you have two days.
05:38Go and do this VidXP.
05:39VidXP was basically a show, two days to bring in all social media content makers to one place,
05:47provide workshops, seminars to educate them.
05:50At the same time, bring in these famous influencers to talk about their life experience.
05:56Very successful.
05:57Very successful.
05:58Two days, we had over 7,000, 8,000 people attending.
06:01We had more than 70 workshops, attended more than 400, 500 people.
06:06So it was ticketed.
06:09It was a sponsored base and ticketed and we covered our cost and plus.
06:14So it was very successful.
06:15I believe social media and these platforms will change.
06:20Every day you have a new one.
06:22However, as it's changing, the social media content also is changing.
06:27There are so many negatives out there.
06:29Let's put that aside.
06:30But there is a lot of positive also.
06:32So let's use that positive to reach out to maximum number of people.
06:36And it could change people in society.
06:40People are getting their education from you.
06:42Our kids today are tuning here more than tuning to their parents.
06:46So we need to be a bit also aware of what they're tuning in and where they're getting that information and content.
06:51So I believe on producing more positive content on social media to reach out to maximum number of people.
06:59So they pick up that what they're consuming in a positive way, not negative,
07:06because eventually it's going to make a change in their life.
07:11TV will be there.
07:12Cinemas will be there.
07:14But it depends what you want to tune in.
07:18In our busy lives, these new platforms are playing a big role.
07:23So I'm going to help a lot of filmmakers really to go out there on social media, but in a professional way, not just anything.
07:37There is other activities.
07:39Every organization has been doing.
07:41We had 14 years of film festival that played a big role on Dubai's economy,
07:45played a big role in Dubai's film industry, in the region film industry.
07:49However, recently there are some changes.
07:51I believe still we're waiting for the management to come back with the new direction.
07:57And hopefully that will come out soon.
08:00Once that's clear, then I believe there are going to be new diff.
08:03There are going to be diff 2.0 or 3.0, which you call it.
08:07Again, that appetite is there.
08:09So the government will continue supporting the industry through its initiatives.
08:13There are many initiatives such as Sheikh Hamdan Photography Award.
08:17There are other short film festival awards we sponsored as Studio City and Film Commission,
08:23the Children Film Festival in Dubai, the International Children Film Festival.
08:28So there are many initiatives out there.
08:31And we'll continue adding these initiatives to our portfolio of filmmaking or content making in Dubai.
08:39The Film Commission will also look into some new strategy in the next few weeks.
08:44So this is something also we've been studying.
08:46You know, the whole landscape is changing so fast.
08:48So you need to adapt to it.
08:50The media landscape is changing so fast.
08:53Yesterday or two days back, a friend of mine was saying,
08:57actually it was my brother and my friend.
08:59They were like, are you watching this TV series on Netflix?
09:04And I was like, man, I have no time really.
09:07I used to read books. I don't even read books now.
09:09I'm trying to catch as much as possible of what I was reading.
09:12And they're like, we spend four to six hours a day watching TV series.
09:16So I asked him when.
09:17He's like, when I get home at 8, 9, I'm on till about 10, 11 o'clock.
09:22So there are these short episodes, sequels, series after each other on Netflix that people are attached to it.
09:31And this is where is it going now.
09:34So these young guys, age of mid-20s, are attached to these contents coming through Netflix or Amazon or whatever.
09:43Again, it's changing so fast. We need to change with it too.
09:47There is a lot of great talents in UAE.
09:50We have a lot of UAE filmmakers out there.
09:55I believe private sector should play a big role with government.
09:58We should not always put the aim that the government should do everything.
10:03The local community is strong.
10:06We have good investors here. We have good banks here.
10:10And if they are willing to sit with us as a government, we could guide them through the right structure, partner with us.
10:18We have all the models. We have done all the exercise for them.
10:21So they don't have to really go and do homeworks.
10:24We could always provide good, I would say, structure to these filmmakers and content makers to go out there, make content, tell a story and make money.
10:33At the end of the day, content making is about making money, being anywhere.
10:37In TV or cinema or on social media.
10:40Because at the end of the day, it has to be business.
10:43And it's a good business.
10:45Bollywood has been doing it for over 100 years.
10:47These films make millions of dollars for these filmmakers.
10:50Same thing in Hollywood.