Clint Eastwood and Darren Aronofsky are among the high-profile filmmakers voicing their support for the Icelandic Film Fund as the industry faces major cuts in 2014. Iceland’s production industry has been booming but the government is under pressure to reduce spending.
New Zealand has announced it will expand its national filming incentive programme and an agreement has also been reached to host James Cameron’s three Avatar sequels. From April 2014, big-budget international productions will be able to get a filming incentive of up to 25%.
"Beauty brands need a beautiful face and a beautiful place," says Samrat Das Gupta, Creative director at Situations Advertising, explaining why Krakow was chosen as a filming location by Yardley London: “The decision-making process is simple – if it has the wow factor, let’s do it!”
An extensive film tourism campaign is promoting the New Zealand filming locations used in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The movie is the second in Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy trilogy following hobbit Bilbo Baggins and a band of dwarves as they encounters the dragon Smaug.
Film London has appointed David Shepheard to manage the promotion of London as a world-class production destination to attract inward investment. He joins the Inward Investment and Business Development team, headed up by Helena Mackenzie.
Production company MediaCo filmed on location on more than ten islands in ten days for a new promotional video capturing the heart of the South Aegean Region in Greece.
A new historical miniseries focussing on the legendary general Hannibal Barca could consider filming locations in North Africa or the Mediterranean. Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry is producing the project with History Channel, which based its first scripted drama Vikings in Ireland.
A new business plan is helping bring more commercial filming to Washington State in the north-west US. The Commercial Business Development Plan (CBDP) was created through a partnership with Washington Filmworks and the Seattle Office of Film + Music.