Wednesday 4 September 2013

UK, Morocco tie the knot -- but how does this loving relationship work?

A good way\
to strengthen ties ...?
"U.K., Morocco Sign Film Co-Production Treaty" is the promising title of this item in the Hollywood Reporter.  It reads, in relevant part:
"The U.K. and Moroccan governments have signed a co-production treaty to allow the two countries to "strengthen ties within the film industry, encourage the sharing of knowledge and ideas, and drive economic growth through film production." It is expected that the treaty will be extended "in the near future" to include TV production as well, the parties said. Negotiated by the British Film Institute and Centre Cinematographique Marocain (CCM), the national cinema agency of Morocco, the treaty also provides tax incentives for productions.

Productions qualifying under the terms of the treaty will be able to access the benefits of national status in each country. In Morocco that means tax incentives, while in the UK qualifying productions will be able to acquire the British movie tax relief and apply to the BFI's film fund -- the U.K.’s largest public film fund with a current allocation of $34 million (£22 million) annually to invest in the development, production and completion of feature films.

... 
The U.K. currently has nine bilateral co-production treaties in place with countries including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Israel and India".
This blogger was unaware of "the wonderful collaborative relationship that already exists between the creative industries of the U.K. and Morocco, as well as putting in place strong financial incentives to boost film production in both nations", to which the UK government culture minister Ed Vaizey alluded.  Can any reader enrich his understanding of what has been going on so far, how much benefit is being derived and what impact, if any, it may have on the offshoring and/or other strategic moves involving the IP rights that are exploited within these collaborative ventures?

1 comment:

Suleman Ali said...

You're probably aware of this list (http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/docs/reg/tvwf/eu_works/bilateral_coprod.pdf) which shows how much is happening in this sector. As economies become more tertiary and want to gain from cultural output then presumably the film industry of each country is going to become increasingly important. I'm sure the hidden motive behind coproduction is to increase audience numbers. The UK is missing a trick in not having a treaty with China.