Getting into the business means actually getting started on your own for profit. This arises when one has crossed certain milestones especially in reconciling effort verses some success. When the reconciliation of the two is positive, one may not need to break into private venture but instead, the business comes to you. A number of times, this has happened to many entrepreneurs especially when opportunities come their way. Suddenly, positive vibes start coming, free publicity and key followers sizes up.

What does this mean to film business start-ups? Start making work on your own by considering yourself a winner while building an audience and gaining some recognition, and adding to the number of those willing to help you from the industry. Consider gaining industry validation from the industry as compared to if you were to gain it on your own.

Fundamentally, as we get more film professionals joining the industry, there are key questions that must be answered. It is now easy to acquire filming equipment as the costs of the same have come down. This means that, many people who would not previously have been able to afford to make films now are able to make them. Also, there are more and more outlets for distributing films to a global audience than ever before.

Creators have to imagine an oversupply of films which as a result may drive down the sales numbers from distributors and the amount of money consumers are willing to pay. There being continuous change in consumer behavior and watching patterns. Filmmakers must respond to questions such as why buy a DVD for X amount or leave home to go to the cinema when you can see the film online for free or for a very low cost and at ones convenience.

The film market has become so uncertain with various disruptions arising from technological changes, audience changing needs, competing interests hence more difficult to get the attention of an audience who now have an overabundance of leisure activities such gaming, YouTube, cable channels among others. As we make films, this calls for us to be steadfast and strong in making films capable of grabbing wide attention repeatedly.

Marketing has to be at play and alive to the changing times. There is no specific format to follow, but strategies in use keep changing all the time. This is as a result of the ever changing time and tools, new tools come up, old ones fade away, capabilities on all of them change, audience needs also change. A strategy based on knowing who your audience is in an in-depth way and what you want to achieve is critical as part of your overall marketing strategy. Today, the social networks are a game changer, as they are about sharing, researching, selling through influence etc. As filmmakers break into professional businesses, there is need to separate their accounts into business and personal use and keep what they share on those channels. What will pull you off from a professional standpoint will be what you share with an audience and what draws them to you and your professional work.

As we discuss, the business of film, there is need to respond to questions such as why people make films. Generally, many filmmakers do side jobs and only do film productions for personal satisfaction. In such kind of a mindset, how do we reconfigure our minds to orient the art into the profit making business?

In forging the journey in the business of film, let us craft the art, put it in perspective and consolidate all factors for growth. Enjoy film making and tell more stories for the world to share.

The writer is a Chartered Marketer and film industry professional. Can be reached at timothy.owase@live.com

Today’s organisations both in government, private and not for profit, strive to show how the marketing profession can be used as a force for good in the world. Social marketing has its roots in the public health communication for behavior change in the 1960’s. The art has evolved considerably, and now embraces a position in strategic marketing planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation, sustainability for effective behavior change.

Social marketing, as is broadly defined, is the application of business marketing practices and other techniques for social good. This includes initiatives in prevention of environmental degradation projects, reducing crime, promoting the benefits of exercise and responsible citizenry, education, health and sanitation, cultural heritage as examples of social marketing that have been undertaken with notable success in recent years.

Over the years’, marketers are known for researching what customers want, providing offers through innovation and new product design, communicating the offerings in ways that turn interest into actions and ensuring satisfaction and repeat business. This are the key elements of marketing that marketers are good at, and are continually honed to realize the art of the marketing concept.

Social marketing is a phenomenon that offers marketers opportunities to use their talents for positive change in their operational environment. This provides a platform to which marketers provide room for a more favorable attitude towards the profession, while on the other hand providing recognition to the importance the marketing profession can play in making the world a better place.

Social marketers often work with those whose behavior is the hardest of all to change, communities that are disadvantaged, hard to reach or socially excluded, and whose social, cultural and peer pressures create enormous barriers and resistance to change. Social marketers here understand customer psychology and motivations in ways that marketers do not always implement.

Generally, marketing is about changing behavior and acting as an engine that drives successful competitive advantage, developing a strong brand, building a relationship with customers and running a profitable and not for profit organisations. In doing these, marketing organisations potent success in the coming years as they get involved on creating impact by either public or private entities. Social marketing is destined at influencing marketing campaigns, designs to promote positive community change.

As the marketing profession move to position of influence in the society, it makes sense for governments to explore, learn from, and blend these approaches into their own in dealing with the ever rising challenges of governance, alcoholism, leadership and integrity among many more. Increasing awareness of social marketing principles will continue to shows and prove that marketing profession can lead positive social change as well as economic successes.

In today’s continued social change, governments need to take notice of social marketing, because of the way social policy is increasingly seeking the skills. The Kenya Government, for example, can now appreciate more than ever before that passing legislation does not in itself necessarily lead to changes in people’s behavior. This has been attested in the recent changes in the Kenya’s constitution 2010 and the constitutional offices created to the resultant outcomes to the desired.

This brings out the need to discovering and understanding the barriers to change, thinking carefully about how those barriers could be overcome, and asking the right questions of the target audiences. The result is likely to be a win-win situation for government, company, customer and the environment in differentiating the organisation, prudent use of resources and improving lifestyles for the targeted audiences and their action to the ultimate desired change. This deep connection with peoples’ values, and helping them change habits through innovation, builds the brand and helps retain and build desired behavior.

The government at both county and national levels, need to take cognizance of the wider cultural implications involved in addressing general social challenges at their behest; the issue is not just about ticking the box and closing time, but the ingrained culture of creating understanding and dealing with the predetermined social causes. As an example, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, National Cohesion and Integration Commission, Independent Policing Oversight Authority, The Kenya Police Service among other agencies in Kenya, are grappling with varied strategies in tackling challenges within areas of their mandate.

To successfully achieve social behavior change, it is my call for a more in-depth strategic approach. This can be attained by the Governments beginning to recognize the potential of social marketing to influence public behavior, and applying the same to public policy. Public policy has not previously taken much notice of what’s known to marketing organisations. For the case of Kenya, we now need to ask ourselves critical questions on how marketing agencies in government would seal this gap.

As we drive the wave of change in our environment, these social challenges are important to note, because no longer is it acceptable for organisations to assert their position in business and leave it to governments to legislate on the societal consequences of a market-based economy. Whatever is important to society is equally important to organisations and the responsible player, who wants to differentiate their products, service and advance their prospects, understands their importance and relevance.

Timothy Owase is a Chartered Marketer and Communications  professional and a Creative Industries practitioner. Can be reached at timothy.owase@live.com 

In today’s business environment, engaging our diverse stakeholders in long-term dialogue is an important ingredient that informs our decision making, helps us progressively improve towards organisations sustainability commitments. In a world of business focused on 24/7 turnaround, technological integration, varying customer’s needs, regulatory environments, media and demand for profits and customer satisfaction.

In an environment where trust is hard-earned and a company’s reputation is in the hands of its stakeholders. Business proprietors require a deliberate stakeholder engagement strategy.  This is vital to a business, as it is no longer optional for businesses who wish to stay relevant in business. Organisations that ignore this, will in the foreseeable future find themselves dealing with different business realities.

A today’s stakeholder is more sophisticated, informed and engaged, collaborative, aware of governance and decision-making among stakeholder networks, and their expectations is that organisations aptly upright and  have the competence to instantly respond to any of their concerns. Businesses engage with many stakeholder groups in a variety of formal and informal settings across their entire business environment. The engagements may range from meetings with local, regional and national groups to dialogues with suppliers and customers.

There is always a need for organisations to actively get involved in multi-stakeholder initiatives, so that they can address pressing business environmental challenges. This can be proactively achieved by working together with external stakeholder partners, being able to identify and address issues by bringing together the expertise, knowledge and passion of organizations and individuals.

Engaging stakeholder’s is an important management function, particularly in relation to leading an organisation. In today’s modern business, you cannot run any business without engaging with your key stakeholders and there’s no doubt you already interact with them on a frequent, if not daily basis.  Stakeholder engagement goes beyond the interaction and in this context is about far more than dealing with them at the day to day level. It is a strategic decision and refers to truly putting stakeholders at the heart of your business and ensuring that everything you do across the business is designed to meet and exceed their needs and expectations.

Most organisations consider stakeholder engagement as a secondary function or even as a non-essential activity to the business vision. Programs in this line are today meant and designed to a tick the box approach with an aim of evidencing signed contracts. Stakeholder engagement should be at the heart of your strategic management processes and as an underlying principle in stakeholder engagement strategy.

It is essential that your organisation is genuinely interested in listening to stakeholder’s concerns and addressing their needs as part of the organizational decision-making processes. Some organisations undertake stakeholder engagement just because it is seen to be a fashionable thing to do and without any meaning to it, thus only racing to participating in a box ticking exercise.

What is evident is that stakeholders see through this while for leaders and managers who don’t approach stakeholder engagement in a genuine and meaningful way also do themselves and the business more harm than good.

As business leaders, aspiring owners, managers and employees, true stakeholder engagement has to mean more than daily transactions to developing meaningful relationships which serve to ensure that you understand and consistently deliver upon stakeholder’s needs and expectations.

For a long- term business relationships, consider thought leaders and influences from government, civil society, and the private sector, as they play an important role in creating and maintaining business value. This calls for organisation whether big or small to evolves and take a strategic and structured approach to stakeholder relations.

We have had insights as to why the stakeholders are a critical element of a business. Who are these stakeholders? And why are they important? Stakeholders vary from organisation to the other and include sponsors or investors, customers, employees, community, government, suppliers, shareholders among others.  

Investors or sponsors naturally want to protect their investment, and get the highest returns possible, so they generally view the business from that limited perspective. Thus it is essential to understand them in that context and create an understanding for business continuity. As a means, enable Annual General Meetings, quarterly roadshows and results briefings, webcasts, ongoing dialogue with analysts and investors.

A customer sustains and grows the business. It is common for businesses to interact with their customers on a regular basis and there is no doubt, no manager can survive for very long in a business environment without doing so. However, the real consideration here is how meaningful those relationships are in terms of really understanding their needs and continuously developing and enhancing service offering in response.

Introduce customer hotlines, local websites, plant tours, research, surveys, focus groups, feedback mechanisms among others like regular visits, dedicated account teams, joint business planning, joint value creation initiatives, customer care centers, social media engagement, surveys etc.

Employees play a critical role in your business. We already know that employee engagement is a vital success factor for business and organisations with no doubt have a variety of ways in which they interact with them. The key issue here is the quality of those interactions; for example, employees in many businesses complain that there are too many meetings which are unproductive so you should reflect upon the quality of your interactions, and not just the quantity. Is there value emanating from employee interactions? Consider; engagement surveys, senior executive business updates, town hall meetings, employee communications, individual development plans, health and safety communications programs, community and employee well-being projects, Ethics hotline;

Community depending upon the location of the business in question, the local communities have a greater or lesser impact on how you run it – if you are located in a small rural area they will probably have more influence on the decision you take than if you are based in a large city.

Regardless of location, most businesses seek to work closely with the local community and this can form part of wider corporate social responsibility efforts. Consider community meetings, plant visits, partnerships on common issues, sponsorship, lectures at universities among others.

The relationship between businesses and their suppliers has been somewhat at “arm’s length”, and in the past there has often been a general feeling of mistrust within the relationship. The expectation is that the supplier’s aim to maximize profits at the expense of service standards and quality, with the purchaser challenging the supplier on quality, weight and price and always threatening to take their business elsewhere.

Businesses must establish how to well manage the relationship and clear any possible suspicions. Create joint value creation initiatives, annual supplier conference, sustainable sourcing, supplier guiding principles, and packaging associations, branding among others as members of family.

Lastly, often the government is overlooked as a stakeholder in a business, but as you are well aware the national government or local government can directly impact on how you operate your business without you having too much to say in the matter.

In terms of the engagement issue, we must focus on the arms of government and those agencies that directly support the industry you operate in. Create dialogue, partnerships on common issues, and memberships of business and industry associations, foreign investment advisory councils, recycling and recovery initiatives, chambers of commerce among others.

As I conclude on this topic for now, businesses need to be committed to an ongoing stakeholder engagement as a core component of business and sustainability strategies by actively working as members of the communities where we live and work, and strengthen the fabric of our communities so that we prosper together.

Timothy Owase is a Marketing and Communications  professional and a Creative Industries practitioner. Can be reached at timothy.owase@live.com 

This week, Daystar University hosted its annual film week. Over the years I have participated at various film festivals and this one was not different. The Daystar film week reminded me reminds me of the numerous film festivals over the years across the world.

So, why film festivals? I learned through experience on the benefits of such an event and as to why it has to be shared for understanding among key stakeholders. It is necessary to highlight the advantages so people in my country, and others, can understand what the big deal is with festivals.

With so many film festivals in existence across the world and more coming online daily, how do you as a filmmaker decide where to spend you energy?  Is it worth to submit your film to an unknown festival?  This can only be concluded that, it varies depending on who you are and how you participate, your project or audience.

To the filmmakers, festivals present a significant way to market their film, project concept, seek financing, and create networks at a reasonable and viable position. There are no doubt festivals present opportunities to network within the industry, get feedback from your target audiences, film critics to shaping your project direction and enhance film business relationships.

As we reflect about this topic, it is worthy to note, festivals offer room to share professional tips and information on topics from technical aspects of filming, collaborations are born and developed into co production relationships, enables film festival directors to collect films from far and wide and bring audiences together for a common agenda.

To underscore the significance festivals in the industry, we’ll focus on the benefits to the filmmakers. This relates to their work and story.  While on the other hand, goes to benefit the audience who support the work of audiovisual artists. It is therefore worth to note, festivals offer a two-way traffic, and the filmmakers need the audience while the audience needs the filmmakers.

Let us now unpack why festivals are important.

Marketing talent: – The best way for filmmaker to get his or her name out there is to submit a film and gain acceptance into film festivals. Whether the film passes muster or not with the audience, the filmmakers get recognition simply for completing a work and getting it screened. Festivals provide skilled professionals to showcase their talent and win over their audiences.

Promoting local content: Festivals give preference to filmmakers local to the jurisdiction when selecting films to screen. This encourages and supports the local filmmakers and gives them a platform from which they can leap to the next level. This helps in bolstering film sales from the audience of crew members, actors, friends and family who don’t have to travel far to support the film.

Relationships building through Networking: These festivals give filmmakers a chance to interact with fellow filmmakers, supporters, media and other stakeholders. I have personally made important contacts and friends from networking at festivals. It establishes mutually beneficial relationships and leads to many collaborative possibilities.

Promotions of tourism: Film festivals attract tourists from both in and out of the country. A filmmaker will usually travel across the country to attend and promote a screening of their film. It also attracts media and film fans who, on return home to talk about the festival and the city hosting it.

The Interests of locals Community:  Most film festivals favor a niche and will include films based in the region or focus upon a subject many locals will find relevant to their culture and interests. This helps bring particular fans to the festivals based on its niche.

Local Cinema:  As much as the connection between the festival promotors and the cinema halls hosting the festival may vary, the theater enjoys fringe benefits such as a potential boost in concession sales and positive word of mouth.

Community Collaboration: Festivals bring communities together and foster an atmosphere of town pride and friendship among the participants. This is enables networking in which friendships are formed and new creative/business opportunities established.

Recognition: Awards benefit the promotion of the festival as well as the filmmakers. No matter the size of a festival. The filmmakers can add “Award-winning Filmmaker” to their resume and the festival can claim their first award and first big break in the industry.

Education to participants: One benefit many do not realize about film festivals is the educational opportunities it presents. Most festivals hold workshops facilitated by respected film professionals in all fields. Festivals hold special screenings and programs for children teaching them about a specific aspect of filmmaking, particular social issues, economic or art.

Filmmakers bring life, culture, and art to the eager eyes of their audiences, and as the audience we have a very important job, enjoy and learn. The audience, in fact is the most important element, especially for any film. Film festivals bring out the best aspects about film and breaks boundaries. A film festival takes a lot of work, but the outcome is not only beautiful, but groundbreaking for the audience, upcoming and mature film professionals.

Timothy Owase is a film industry professional and a Chartered Marketer. Can be reached at: timothy.owase@live.com

The concept of the ‘job for life’, still prevalent in business, governments and families. This places pressure on the growing individual, who is faced with further pressures as the pace of business life increases and knowledge becomes quickly outmoded and supplanted by new information. As a consequence, governments are beginning to re-evaluate the way they look at training and developing their children. At the same time there is need for parents and children to take more personal responsibility for the learning they take away from training programmes.

For institutions of higher learning, there is a need to align their choice of training with the strategic objectives of the country at the time. Today, in Kenya without a more rigorous identification of what is expected from the training, there is no longer any guarantee that the training will translate into success in life. This calls for the need to identify ‘training needs for the country’ as part of a wider system of ‘learning’, as the current 844’training’ does not do justice to the wide array of new skills, values and perspectives that individuals can develop and bring to life.

At a family level, there is a need for parents to take more individual responsibility for how their children learn, and the need to be more focused on the family and national values and needs in order to extract the right outcomes from the training they undergo. It is important that as citizens, we must be willing to commit to the national aspirations in a way that is appropriate. To achieve these, we need to develop learning experiences that will maximize value for both the individual’s own personal and national development.

As a result, this will shift in learning towards constructive outcomes other than individualistic competition experienced in the current 844 system. This holds that all knowledge is essentially personal knowledge – the learner is at the centre of the process, not the classroom, the lecturer, or the material they are learning from. In the future, training can no longer be merely a valuable thing to do for its own sake. It must directly benefit aspirations, improve specific skills of the individual, and create effective transferable skills for the individual to fit into varied environments.

In the past decade, we have all viewed education in different lenses; Even a relatively short time ago it was possible to think in terms of enjoying a long career with a single employer, building presence and status over a long period of time, this is no longer the case. The roles within organisations were clearly defined and the nature of the work would be consistent. This is no longer the case, as professions have changed and illustrates more clearly than before through the day to day needs of this organisations.

Organisations tend not to take a holistic, whole career approach to their workforce nowadays The impact of this is that the individual has to learn how to manage short-term relationships whilst moving from task to task and organisation to organisation. Sennett argues that as organisations seldom, if ever, provide individuals with a long-term career time frame; the individual has to construct their own career or life narrative.

The other issue is addressing the challenge of developing new skills and uncovering potential abilities as skills decay increasingly rapidly over time. A skill can no longer be viewed as being a skill for life, an enduring presence that will ensure one’s continuing security in the corporate world as once it might have done. Longer serving employees were once respected for the hard won experience they had acquired; they built up valuable knowledge, competencies and skills over time.

These skills were durable and had value. Now, due to the pace of change, there is less advantage in holding such skills. ‘Skills extinction’ has become one of the characteristics of modern corporate life. Adaptability has taken its place. Technological advances mean workers need to retrain every now and then. The notion of a single set of skills that will last an individual their entire working life is as redundant as the pitheads that once dotted the sales concept.

As the 844 system of learning in Kenya beckons, the ability to let go of the past; to accept that no one owns their place in an organized system, and that past services do not guarantee a future with the same employer. The future for any individual is more about potential than experience – what you can do in the future rather than what you have done in the past.

This changes in the way we train will themselves develop and mutate as technology continues to develop at a fast rate of change. As a result, learning will not merely be seen as a useful adjunct to building an individual’s career.

Learning will be seen in its rightful context as a strategic investment that creates competitive advantage for the individual and leads directly to growth and development. Let us embrace the looming change in our education system the prosperity of our beloved country Kenya. This puts a great deal of individual responsibility on each of us to seize the initiative for our national interest.

The writer is a professional chartered marketer and film industry practitioner. Can be reached at timothy.owase@live.com

The creative economies are important to state economies. Creative and culture-related industries, also known as “creative industries,” provide direct economic benefits to states and communities. They create jobs, attract investments, generate tax revenues, and stimulate local economies through tourism and consumer purchases.

These industries provide an array of other benefits, such as infusing other industries with creative insight for their products and services. In addition, because they enhance quality of life, the arts and culture are an important complement to a country’s development, enriching local amenities and attracting young professionals.

Governments are increasingly recognizing the importance of the creative sector to their states’ economy and ability to compete in the global marketplace. A number of factors underscore the connection between economic competitiveness and creativity.

Creative industries are growing in number and playing increasingly prominent economic and social roles; Companies’ decisions about where to locate their businesses often are influenced by factors such as the ready availability of a creative workforce and the quality of life available to employees; creative economy play a major role in community development and redevelopment by creating new jobs as well as fostering an environment and amenities that attract talented young workers; and Tourism centered on arts and culture contribute to state and local economic growth by providing a diversified and sustainable means for creating jobs and attracting revenue.

In today’s economy: Creative and new media industries are growing in number and playing increasingly prominent economic and social roles;  The market value of products is increasingly determined by a product’s uniqueness, performance, and aesthetic appeal, making creativity a critical competitive advantage to a wide array of industries.

The most desirable high-wage jobs require employees with creativity and higher order problem solving and communications skills; and Business location decisions are influenced by factors such as the ready availability of a creative talents and the quality of life available to employees.

After countries cultural assets have been mapped and analyzed, states can use information to devise economic development strategies that harness the economic benefits of the creative industries on a statewide basis. Such strategies not only summarize the value of the arts to a state, but they also identify new opportunities, point to productive initiatives, and reveal potential partners furthering creative-driven economic development in the state. The key elements of a good planning process are leadership and input from stakeholders, agreement on a clear vision, and visible kick-off efforts.

Identifying the right people to lead is critical to the success of planning efforts. A common strategy is to establish a special office charged with advancing the state’s economy through the arts. Just as states have identified specific high-tech, energy, health, or information industries as important to the future economic success, so too have to identify a variety of creative industries that offer significant potential for economic growth.

These include film, design, crafts, music, traditional arts, environmental art, culinary arts, and many others. Once a state has identified pivotal creative industries or economic clusters, it can then adopt different strategies—including incentive policies, development initiatives, training programs, or public-private collaborations—to encourage growth in that industry.

Much of where filming happens is driven by the script; it is largely a creative decision. It is important to let decision-makers know that your jurisdiction has that “perfect” location. Promoting your locations really goes together with your marketing efforts. Be sure to show off the alleys and the heavy industrial areas as well as the scenic parts of your country. To get that special acknowledgement in the closing credits, you will have to package your locations creatively and place an emphasis on service delivery and outreach.

Fast turnarounds: Producers want quick answers to their questions because the wrong decision can cost time and money.

 Direct Mail:  Identify decision-makers and show them what your location has to offer. Include images of your locations and information about filming in your community.

Marketing Calls:  Get to know your potential customers and check in with them periodically to discuss potential projects that may be in the pipeline. Watch the trade papers for projects in pre-production that would be appropriate for your location.

Print and Electronic Advertising; particularly on the Internet, Entertainment-related and production-related portals are increasing in popularity and usage. A trend to watch is how producers increasingly make use of these sites in developing their projects. Make sure you explore ways to utilize these sites.

Familiarization (“Fam”) Tours: Invite producers or other industry decision-makers to your community and help them become familiar with you and your locations.

In-Person “Sales” Calls: There is no substitute for face-to-face meetings on the studio lot. While trade shows like Locations Expo are popular and serve a purpose for some film commissions it is important to remember that most decisions get made in production offices, not in convention center halls.

How to improve your locations

Location Library: The purpose of the location library is to show producers the variety of available filming sites in your town. Each individual site should be treated to a panoramic view of the venue at one shot. Photograph the area to reflect how the production company would actually see it, and keep your file current. Update the photographs to reflect changes to the location. Keep a photographer on standby to provide a rapid response to any request for sites not already in your photo library.

Production Handbook: Typically, this is developed through establishment of a database, which is organized by categories of potential locations, crew, and vendors including equipment rentals or prop houses, and other ancillary businesses like lumberyards and stationery stores. This can be particularly crucial when promoting local opportunities – you want to encourage use of local products and services, rather than everything simply being brought from your area.

Website: Many organisations are developing sections of their website focused on production services, including a location library and production handbook. Have a website that can be used to promote your area. The advantage of placing information on the website is the savings in paper and postage and the ability of production professionals to access and print these materials at their convenience.

The writer is a chartered marketer and a film industry professional and can be reached at timothy.owase@gmail.com

By Timothy Owase

Creating a film friendly environment that promotes and encourages production of filmed entertainment in all of our communities in Kenya should be considered as a priority by all. Today I take you through a journey that outlines the processes involved in a production, with a broader look at how communities can attract, retain and co-exist with filming.

To have a successful filming activity in Kenya, key actors get involved, and include; permitting authorities such as Immigration, Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Film Classification board, County governments, location owners, services providers, lobby groups, security agencies, visitors’ bureaus, neighborhood associations and residents and crew among others. These players represent a tool for community promotion and economic development.

Why is filming important to your county

Production of filmed entertainment creates and generates revenues for the local economy. Ksh. spent by a production company have a long life; it keeps going, and going, and going. A film production company in your community is likely to patronize hardware stores, florists, dry cleaners, neighborhood restaurants, hotels, money transfer services, technology, transport, local skills, and knowledge transfer among others.

Across the world, cities and small towns, states and geographic regions seek to attract producers to their areas in hope of attracting a feature film or television projects. It has been proven that, just one good-sized production can translate into economic good times for your town or community. Thus attracting filming business to your county will offer the key economic solutions that we are seeking to fill.

Types of Productions

• Features

A feature project is typically two hours in length with a cast and crew size of generally 85 to 100 people. Preparation time can begin up to 60 days in advance of the start of photography. During that time, budgets are set and locations are chosen. The average shooting schedule for on-location photography is estimated at three months.

• Commercials

Commercials have a very short turnaround time, sometimes one day. They can be filmed and edited one week, and aired the next. Commercial producers are retained by an advertising agency and the advertising executives sometimes make final decisions on location filming.

• Made-for-Television Movies (MOWs)

While crew sizes are similar to those of a feature length film, budgets for MOWs are much smaller.

• Stills Photography

Stills Production makes up the vast majority of filming. Most crews are small and require little in the way of extra lights, catering etc. Locations to be used for a stills shoot are often only decided on short notice.

• Episodic Television

These are usually one-hour drama series, although occasionally some 30-minutes situation comedies will also shoot on location. Cast and crew sizes for television shows are slightly smaller than for features. Episodic television typically will film an episode in seven working days, with three to four days per episode shot on location.

Who gets involved in a Film Shoot?

• Location Manager / Scout

This is the person responsible for finding, selecting and finalizing the locations needed for the script. As a rule the location manager is the first person to make contact and arrangements with a potential location.

• Unit Production Manager

This is the executive in charge of all production arrangements, such as location contracts, negotiations and shooting schedules. The location manager reports to the Unit Production Manager.

• First Assistant Director

The primary job of the first assistant director is to assist the cast and work as an intermediary between the director and the cast and crew. He/She is in charge of the set and everything that happens on it.

What attracts filmmakers to your county?

• Accessible Locations

Every filmmaker wants accessibility to locations to get their perfect shots. A town may have perfect venue, but unless a company can get in to scout it, or subsequently rent facilities in it, it doesn’t do much to make your town film – friendly.

Discover what you have that is of special interest to filmmakers, package and present it in a way that is seen to fill a specific need or niche. You need to know what is unique about your county and the selling points associated with it. Know how your area fits within the larger context of your region.

• Consistent Rules

Conditions and rules for filming should be consistent and reasonable. For instance, a requirement that 100% of the neighbors surrounding a chosen film location sign their approval not only deters production companies from filming in your neighborhoods, it enables one or two individuals effectively to hold a production and your community hostage i.e. Some towns claim to have no permit requirements, yet require approval for street closures, parking or exceptions from noise ordinances.

• Reasonable Fees

Filmmakers typically don’t mind paying location fees: however make sure the rents are fair. Counties should do all they can to discourage property owners from trying to overcharge film companies. Have a good general knowledge of the cost of labour, permits, location fees, housing, production space and support services.

• One-stop Shopping

Eliminate the run-arounds and avoid sending location managers all over town to get their permits. Placing all the approvals (such as roads, parks and public safety, security, trade etc.) under one roof is an attractive plus. Location managers would rather be on-location than navigating county hall for permits.

• Emphasize Service

If a producer has a problem on location, solve it. If a neighborhood has concerns about the production, mediate it. Offer a world class service delivery.

• Marketing

Remember, your county is just but one of the many, thus make sure your information is accurate and easy to understand and visible. Filmed entertainment is very cost sensitive, hence develop marketing and location packages that are both compelling and exceptional representations of your area.

Always be sure that your packages are honest representations of what you have to offer. You must never misrepresent your area, or promise something you may not be able to deliver. Remember your brand is your promise!

By Timothy Owase

A co-production is a production where two or more different production companies agree to work together, for example in a film production. In the case of an international co-production, production companies from different countries work together on a project. It is the most common form of film industry cooperation.

Co production agreements enable foreign producers to pool their creative, artistic, technical and financial resources to co produce projects that enjoy the status of national productions in the countries involved.

There are other common ways of cooperating internationally that are not limited to distribution, film festivals and educational cooperation, artistic production, post-production, script development among others. For long, festivals were generally seen as a way to accessing international markets, good networking opportunities and a good way to expose local audience to foreign films but that has since changed.

There are two types of co-productions:

• Co-production where the creative control is shared between local and foreign partners, and where there is a mix of local and foreign elements in the creative positions.
• Co-production that encompasses a straightforward co-financing arrangement (finance only) in which one partner provides partial funding while another company undertakes the actual production.

Why Kenya should embrace film co production initiatives.

International co-production is an important avenue through which producers tap into international financing and talent to create films and television programs with international audience appeal. Governments enable co-production agreements with other countries.

These agreements permit foreign producers to combine their creative, technical and financial resources to co-produce films and television programs, which benefit from national status in each co-producer’s country, thus bringing many benefits to the local or partnering entities to which the advantages are not limited to;-

• Enables access to bigger and new markets

• Avails opportunity to learn from the partner and network
• Provides access to a desired location
• Immense cultural benefits, e.g. promoting one’s country
• Offers an increase in the quality of production
• The ability to pool financial resources
• Access to the partner government’s incentives and subsidies
• An open access to specialized skills or equipment in host country
• Access to less expensive inputs to the production
• the opportunity to learn from the partner

 International Treaty co-productions are governed by agreements, with specific requirements that may not be limited to approvals by a recognized authority in the partnering country, set minimum financial participation by each partner, agreed costs incurred in each country and a balance between the financial, technical and artistic contributions of each country.

In most cases, audiovisual co production treaties and MOUs are negotiated between two countries to outline their respective obligations with regard to an audiovisual co production. These guidelines provide producers with detailed information on the requirements and procedures to follow when making a recommendation application for an international co production.

Governance

Governments support openness, fairness and consistency at all levels of co production operations. Similarly, they develop several grids to help evaluate co production projects. These grids are not an integral part of the co production guidelines, but serve as a tool to assess the creative and technical aspects of projects to be considered.

A project must first and foremost meet the required minimum creative positions, as they are defined in co production guidelines. If a project doesn’t meet this minimum, it is then evaluated using the grids, which include a bonus-point system. Particularly complex or atypical projects can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

 How co production’s work

Agreements between Governments specify how projects can be ‘co-produced’ between partner countries. These agreements are in the form of either a Treaty or a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). There are differences between the two but for the purposes of administering the co-production program and applying for co-production status, the practical effect is usually minimal thereby using the general term ‘Arrangements’ to refer to these agreements.

Each country which is party to an Arrangement nominates a ‘Competent Authority’ to administer the co-production program. Thus work together and jointly approve projects in order for them to be eligible as co-productions.

In conclusion, Kenya has to explore this opportunities as one way to bolster the creative economy sector in the country.

The Writer is a Chartered Marketer, Development Communication expert and film industry professional and can be reached at timothy.owase@live.com

 

 

By Timothy Owase

 In Kenya, film is one of the constituent parts of the creative industry. Apart from playing an important role in communicating ideas and providing information, the film industry is a potential employment catalyst as it generates jobs directly in companies involved in production, post production, casting, crewing, equipment hire, set design and property supply. It generates many more jobs indirectly in the support and hospitality industries, stimulating business in hotels, catering companies, restaurants and transport business.

Generally, film-making is a challenging combination of business and art. The art of film-making is however no more important than the business of film-making. Successful film makers are those who develop their entrepreneurial skills and “drive films into life”. Film as a cultural tool, can contribute to bringing together what politics has separated as well as to the hastening and consolidation of the process of reorganizing the economic field. On the other hand, cultural action can develop properly only on a solid material and economic basis and this cannot be separated from the socio-economic reality, which constitutes its backbone.

A well nurtured film industry would help in the process of nation building, communication and developing a common shared identity. It provides a forum for sharing ideas and debate and a delivery mechanism for other cultural industries in a country. It’s potential to educate while entertaining the public may even prove to be of a competitive edge for film and television in the society.

The film industry has become a substantial industry directly employs many people (including those self-employed). The growth and worldwide reputation of the sector, from its traditional strengths in acting, scriptwriting and film production through to more recent development in specialist post-production fields like visual effects, represents a real success story.

Kenya’s film industry has a symbiotic relationship with other creative industries. Every job supported in the core film industry a further job is supported through indirect and induced multiplier impacts. This contributes to the economy and exchequer in a number of other ways not captured by standard multipliers – for example, by promoting cultural life, attracting tourists to the country, supporting Kenyan exporters, and generating sales of industry products and other merchandise.

Cultural life

The film industry contributes substantially to the cultural life of the country. Successful films shot at a location, are a means of expression of the locations identity. They address the social challenges faced in the 21st century, including drug addiction, terrorism, as well as positive themes such as family values, friendship and triumph over adversity.

Tourism

The industry indirectly enhances Kenya’s tourist industry by encouraging more international tourists to visit and their spending supports a substantial number of jobs in return. On presentation of Kenyan life in films is not only important in sustaining our culture. But also has important impacts on the country’s tourism and trade. The impact of film on tourism is well-documented through a number of case studies and is recognized in the marketing campaigns of tourist boards around the world. For example, phone apps, podcasts and Movie Maps are available to direct tourists to key locations depicted in such films.

Promotion and trade

The film industry has a role in facilitating trade into the country. High quality films raise the awareness of the country as a place to invest, not only in the film industry itself but also in other sectors. The economic value of the direct, indirect and induced effects would relate to the total revenues of the film industry, while the catalytic impacts are benefits for other industries, consumers and the economy more generally

There are many channels through which the film industry makes contribution to an economy. This contribution includes but not limited to:

Direct impacts – employment and activities in the film industry itself. This covers all stages of film production (pre-production, production and post-production) which physically takes place in the country, together with the distribution and exhibition of films at the market place.

Indirect impacts – employment and activities supported down the supply chain to the core film industry, as a result of film companies purchasing goods and services from in country suppliers. This includes; jobs supported by the manufacture of production equipment sold to production companies; the manufacture of goods sold at cinemas; the spending of film crews in hotels, restaurants among others; business expenditure on TV, radio and other advertising; and a wide variety of activities in the business services sector (legal, Accountancy, Information Technology, Insurance, Management etc.).

 Induced impacts – employment and activity supported by those directly or indirectly employed in the film industry spending their incomes on goods and services in the country. This helps to support jobs in the industries that supply these purchases, and includes jobs in retail outlets, companies producing consumer goods and in a range of service industries. Additionally, there are economic catalytic impacts („spillovers‟) which result from the wider role film has on the following:

Skills and the labour supply – the industry improves skill levels in the economy by helping to retain highly skilled people who would otherwise go abroad or by attracting well-trained people from other countries to work in the country. This increases the pool of talent and skilled labour for other screen industries such as TV and commercials.

 The Writer is a Chartered Marketer and film industry professional and can be reached at timothy.owase@live.com