Written by new-contact on Aug 20, 2014. Posted in On Location

Hollywood calls for expanded film studio facilities in South Africa as interest grows

Hollywood has called on South Africa to expand the filming infrastructure in cities like Cape Town as interest grows in the country. Pirate drama Black Sails is among the high-profile productions currently filming in South Africa, from a base at Cape Town Film Studios.

Rob Davies, South Africa’s Trade and Industry Minister, discussed the infrastructure issue on a trip to the US and on his return has also highlighted the importance of South Africa’s filming incentive. Davies said that US studio executives were happy with existing film facilities and the talents of local crews in South Africa, but that studios might need to be expanded to cater for increased international demand, reports Business Day.

South Africa has a base filming incentive of 20%, which has helped turn the country into a global production hub that now frequently doubles for US locations. Fantasy horror US TV series Dominion has doubled Cape Town for Las Vegas and terrorism drama Homeland recently relocated to Cape Town after several seasons using North Carolina as a base.

Cape Town Film Studios has recently hosted major productions including Northmen: A Viking Saga and Mad Max: Fury Road in addition to Black Sails, and the studio is likely to face increasing scheduling pressure as interest increases.

South Africa’s commercial industry also continues to thrive. Recent campaigns have included Ikea Beds, which involved skydiving and aerial wire work. A BMW Driftmob was shot in Cape Town, while Dulux turned Johannesburg into a Prohibition-era US city.

The South African government is also looking to boost the domestic production industry by drastically lowering the spending bracket that will enable South African films to claim incentive support.

(Black Sails photos: Starz)