Rise of the Middle East
It’s nearly impossible to overstate the impact of the Middle East as a content creation hothouse when, at a time of scant funding, the region is pumping money into the film and TV world. Laine Lister writes.
Shaking off its date and pearl farming ancestry Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich capital of the United Arab Emirates has broken upon the entertainment world’s financial woes like a great wave.
In an effort to diversify its economy in recent years the Emirati government has invested $1 trillion to undertake a cultural overhaul of the city, allocating more than a billion dollars to establish a media production hub in Abu Dhabi.
It’s a ‘free zone’, named twofour54 after its geographical coordinates, conceived to create content for the Arab world.
The final quotation is the biggest load I’ve ever heard.
Of course there are all sorts of restrictions on creative freedom in the UAE. They just never admit it publicly.
They said there were no guideliines in terms of business, not creativity… But you’re right, they can say anything but we won’t know for sure until the first international content creators start working on projects in the UAE.