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Film industry rebounds in Cape Town

by Alistair Anderson 31 Jul 2024
Long Street Filming

Cape Town's film industry has rebounded post-pandemic and is soaring as the city anticipates an economic bounce. 

It’s a wrap! And there are more and more of those in Cape Town as the city’s film industry experiences a dramatic post-Covid pick-up, with the CBD emerging as the hot favourite location.

The City of Cape Town’s Film Permit Office has recorded a steady increase in the number of filming permits issued during its 2023/24 financial year. The office is a critical port of call for attracting investment. 

A review of the office's statistics showed that commercial shoots made up most productions but there was also an uptick in feature films. Cape Town and its city centre act as popular backdrops for film projects managed by local and international studios.

People want to develop media in the city and choose to film in areas such as the CBD for numerous reasons. The city centre has reached global praise for its ease of doing business and for how numerous groups and individuals promote a safe and clean and visually appealing city. These organisations want the CBD to succeed. 
They include the likes of the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID), a non-profit private-public company whose mission includes promoting Cape Town as a leading business and property investment destination. 

Established in 2000, the CCID was the first legislated City Improvement District of its kind in Cape Town. It is the largest CID in South Africa and the only one to preside over a city CBD. Funded by property owners, the CCID provides complementary safety & security, urban management and social development services to a specific 1.6 km² geographical area in the CBD. These support and augment the City of Cape Town’s service delivery in the Central City. The CCID and its partners ensure that the environment is well-managed and that social development issues are addressed.

FILM PERMITS

The Film Permit Office issued 4 757 film permits across Cape Town between 1 July 2023, and 30 June 2024, which is a 22 % increase on the 3 910 permits issued in the preceding financial year of 2022/23. This double-digit growth suggests that the industry has recovered post-pandemic and is now growing at a rate that enables it to match competing developing markets in eastern Europe, Africa and Asia such as Hungary, Morocco, Turkey and New Zealand.

Permits issued by the City include those for feature films, commercials, TV series, stills photography, documentary films, short films, student projects and music videos. The permit office has also received bookings for more than 9 317 film locations in the same period.

Commercials made up the bulk of the film shoots over the past financial year, with 1 604 permits issued. This was followed by micro shoots, at 962 permits. Commercial adverts dominate film permits globally as they tend to cost less to create and are produced more quickly than feature films.

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Filming in CT

FEATURE FILMS

The Permit Office reported that were 168 large feature films shot in Cape Town between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. This has almost doubled from the previous year. The likes of large streaming groups such as Netflix and Prime Video also want to film in Cape Town. For example, the trailer for The Shakedown, an action comedy filmed and set in Cape Town, recently dropped. It's directed by Ari Kruger in his feature film debut and stars Carl Beukes, Emmanuel Castis, Julia Anastasopoulos and Jack Parow. Kruger and Anastasopoulos are the couple behind the popular Tali's TV comedy series.

Similarly, for local streaming service Showmax (which produces original content across the country) the Cape Town CBD remains a location of choice. The crime series White Lies was shot in Bishopscourt in the southern suburbs, and other parts of the city, including the CBD.

MONEY SPINNER

Film is a true money spinner for the CBD, the Mother City and Western Cape all year round, which is why the Film Permit Office receives strong City support.

"In the past, Cape Town attracted a lot of film productions during the summer season due to a number of factors, including our beautiful long summer days. However, what we are seeing over the past couple of years is that filming is increasingly becoming an all-year business, and this is good for both the industry and Cape Town," says Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

More productions are taking place in the winter months as can be seen from the Permit Office's statistics.

"This is critical for an industry that contributes billions to the economy and employs over 30 000 people. Our Film Permit Office is geared to help the industry work effectively, by ensuring permits are processed timeously and providing efficient support where required," Smith says.

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Filming

THE ALLURE OF THE CAPE

Cape Town competes with numerous cities globally as a filming destination because of its natural and diverse beauty, ease of filming in the city and the low cost of filming there.

Marchand Ebersohn, a creative director based in Cape Town agrees that the city is highly competitive on a pricing basis."People want to film in Cape Town because of what the city can offer them. They get good packages when they fly here, and they tend to come with US Dollars or Euros. While the main season is October to February, especially for fashion shoots, we have film shoots all year round. We might not always be as cheap as another city, but production crews will often choose Cape Town so that they can have a few days holiday afterward. It's as beautiful city and they can afford to visit us," he says.

"People like to come and film here. They'll film in the CBD during the day for example, and then try out the best steakhouses and restaurants across the city. Working holidays are a strong draw for film crews," he says.

The city offers a versatile landscape. "We have dunes, forests, beaches, town and everything else. This attracts people who want to shoot ads and movies," says Ebersohn.
Ebersohn completed an ad for Carling Black Label which sponsors the PSL's Champions Cup at the beginning of 2024. It was filmed in the heart of the CBD and showcases the DHL stadium lit up with gorgeous lighting effects.

The City appreciates that the film industry generates hundreds of millions of Rands, so it takes steps to make economic and physical conditions better for production studios. It fosters friendly, safe and lucrative film locales. The CBD and film industry can thrive together because of the likes of the CCID supporting investment and promotion initiatives like Film Cape Town.

THE CBD – PRIME LOCATION

The CBD remains a prime location. Of the Top 20 Cape Town suburbs in which film permits were issued from 1 July 2022 to 30 May 2023, the Cape Town city centre was ahead of the pack, receiving 1 148 permits.

"There is probably a local or international production house on every second street in downtown Cape Town. It's part of our lives to drive past a blocked off a road on the way to work. The police understand and are cooperative. Shoots are safe. People want to be here. The film industry had a tough time in 2020, 2021 and 2022 but in 2024 it's clear that it has recovered," Ebersohn says.

Smith says the City recognises the integral role film plays in the Cape economy.

A joint initiative between the City of Cape Town and the Cape Town film industry called Film Cape Town was launched in 2018. It aims to promote the Mother City as a premier film destination.

"The initiative is designed to make the most of the city’s amazing film locations, diverse talent pool and world-class infrastructure to create a thriving and sustainable industry that’s the crown jewel of the continent," he says.

The film industry took a major knock because of COVID-19 and the subsequent restrictions on productions and travel into the country. This consequently affected the number of permits issued by the City’s Film Permit Office (FPO), he says.

But, while there was a dip in film permits issued in the latter half of the 2019/20 financial year and early in 2021, there has been a resurgence in the number of permits issued from 2022.

"We are seeing an increase not only in the number of permits issued but there’s also an upsurge in applications coming through to the Film Permit Office. We have gone from 5 998 applications in the 2020/21 financial year to 9 868 applications in the recently concluded financial year," he says.

In the last financial year (2023/24), most of the permits were issued for wards 77 and 115, both which include the city centre. "The volume of permits issued for these areas, especially the CBD, shows that there are at least three to four film shoots a week during peak season and at least one shoot a week in the off season," Smith says.

He says the Film Permit Office has fostered a great working relationship with the CCID to coordinate on film shoots with the CCID often facilitating engagement around shoots with businesses and residents in the CBD.

"From a City of Cape Town standpoint, the municipality took a decision a few years ago to play a bigger role as an enabler of the local film industry. One of the areas we identified for support was the costs of production and reducing the burden of municipal service costs for a sector that contributes massively to employment and the local economy," says Smith.

Financial incentives have also been created to generate more filming activity. The City has frozen tariffs for the deployment of traffic services, metro police and law enforcement over the last five years, meaning the City covers the costs for the deployment of these services to public film shoots.

Additionally, the City does not charge any fees for film permits and the booking of locations on City-owned property, including roads and public spaces. These incentives are aimed at ensuring Cape Town is a preferred film destination and to attract more productions to the city.

The freeze on safety and security tariffs for filming has saved the film industry nearly R700 000 in production costs.

IMAGES: Film Cape Town, City of Cape Town

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