Martin Cuff Consulting

There’s a fascinating article at the New York Times about the Sandra Bullock surprise hit “The Blind Side” – a true tale about a wealthy white woman who adopts a black teenager and helps him to become a football star. Made with $35 million (including $5.5 mill of Georgia state incentives), the movie is currently topping $235 million at the box office and has garnered Oscar attention with Best Film and Best Actress nominations. I haven’t seen the film yet (American Football movies don’t translate well to South Africa, where we like to play physical games without padding and helmets) so I’m not blogging the location today.

Rather, I’m interested in my other pet topic – how the savvy filmmakers took control of their own destinies and created a movie with multiple levels of appeal, which they then rode like hell.

In this case Grace Hill (Media) took the unusual step of offering online sermon outlines based on “The Blind Side,” with clips that could be used in churches equipped with video screens. According to Mr. Johnson and Mr. Kosove, about 23,000 churches downloaded the sermons, laying an exceptionally strong base for the film.

It’s clever stuff. Read more here.

Fox has officially confirmed that Avatar passed Titanic in global box office takings this week. Avatar’s new world-wide total gross is $1,858,866,889. Yes, that’s billion….

But did you know that the production budget of the film was partly raised courtesy of a UK scheme whereby investors can defer their (not inconsiderable) income tax and capital gains tax in return for backing British and US films? It’s run by a fabulously opportunistic bunch called Ingenious Media and a really odd assortment of folks – Kate Adie, Sir Bob Geldoff, lipless Frank Lampard, Guy Ritchie – all stand to clear a quick fifty grand (and counting) from their investment in Avatar alone. That’s money for unobtanium, if you ask me.

It’s been reported that the Creative Workers Union of South Africa (CWUSA) is braying about the casting of Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson as ANC MP, convicted kidnapper and Mother-of-the-Nation, Winnie Madikizela Mandela in a movie about her turbulent life. As part of their mobilisation, CWUSA is demanding the reinstatement of work permits for international producers working in South Africa and a moratorium on all international film and music productions in the country. Well why don’t we all just kiss goodbye to the billions of rands of direct foreign investment that international production brings into SA each year….

It’s very very simple: big names such as Jennifer Hudson help to get investors to fund the production of a film because they know she has some power to attract audience to the cinemas so that they can make their money back. Her presence further helps the marketing once the film is made, and ensures the media coverage that further drives box office takings and return on investment. Without her name (or someone – probably American, since it’s their money after all – of similar ilk), the film won’t get made, and the millions of rands potentially injected into the economy during the production just won’t get spent. It’s not called the Film Business for nothing. (more…)

Caught this briefly on CNN: Andy Garcia is in Tbilisi this week, playing President Saakashvili in Renny Harlin’s “anti-war” movie Georgia.

This story from the UK Independent sites “fears that it could be a vehicle for the Georgian government’s version of events,” a view it says is reinforced by the fact that the government has put public buildings and military units at the disposal of the film-makers. Actually, the Georgian National Film Center has made great progress in getting the government to understand the need for film-friendliness. In fact, I like to think that one of the last meetings the former Minister of Defence held before the attempted mutiny back in May was with us, where he agreed in principle to a Military Film Liaison office. It’s our hard work (ok, as well as maybe, a leetle bit of propaganda….) Anyway, I’m actually I’m pretty pleased with the outcome:

The crowd, mainly made up of families and young people, dutifully cheered on cue, and looked on with amazement at the way the centre of their city had been turned into a massive movie set. With a budget of some $32m (£19m), this is the biggest film ever produced in Georgia, and many had come just to watch the spectacle.

How not to work with the local community: embarrassed officials said that when the crew of Julia Robert’s new movie, “Eat, Pray, Love“, rocked up in Bali’s Bentuyung village a month ahead of schedule, locals blocked roads and demanded 32,000 dollars……..

“There was a misunderstanding. The crew came in 20 trucks… earlier than their scheduled shooting on November 10, so the villagers were offended and blocked the roads,” district chief Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati told AFP. “They asked for 300 million rupiah (32,100 dollars) to use the location for filming. I was very embarrassed and told them this was unacceptable……”

Told who? The villagers, or the crew who didn’t bother to consult them???

District 9 finally opened in South Africa. What a bizarre experience: watching a Hollywood movie play out with South African accents and attitudes and familiar locations. Even the movie’s star, Sharlto Copley, is a friend of mine, and though I can be accused of bias for saying so, he’s really astoundingly good in this. The film’s pretty remarkable too; what an imaginative youngster can do with $30 million.

District 9 begins twenty years ago, with first contact with a massive alien mother-ship that’s come grinding to a halt over Johannesburg, South Africa. The ship’s survivors are mostly the thought-challenged worker drones of a colony of insect-like bi-peds – the locals call them “Prawns” – who are forced into an apartheid-style squatter camp, fifth class citizens of a country still rather keen on group classifications. All expectation of sophisticated alien technology, advanced science, superior weaponry, has not materialised, and the government is left performing bland cruelties on the visitors – there’s real, casual, thoughtless violence in describing how the aliens’ eggs pop when they’re set alight. The tag-line: You are not welcome here. Competing for scarce resources with the poorest of the poor, it’s clear that the aliens must be evicted, and in apartheid-style, worthy Afrikaner bureaucrat Wikus van der Merwe is charged with moving them on to a new, “improved” concentration camp. Which is when it all starts to go wrong…..

The movie’s title references the forced removals of District 6 in Cape Town, which still scars the city to this day, but there actually was a Region 9 in Johannesburg, an administrative district from 2000 to 2006. Situated in the south-eastern corner of of the city, to the north it met the Inner City along the Mining Belt and the M2. To the east and south, it formed the boundary of Johannesburg. Its neighbours to the west were Region 10, the Diepkloof/Meadowlands region of Soweto and Region 11, Ennerdale/Orange Farm. The region was abolished with a reorganistion of regions in 2006.

Having trashed the lack of thought (and science) in Terminator Salvation, I was more than pleasantly surprised to come across this new South African SciFi movie District 9.

Based on a creepy short film called Alive in Joburg, it’s produced by Peter Jackson (yes, he of Lord of the Rings fame) and features a clever story about the arrival and integration of aliens in South Africa. In this case, these are non-human alien aliens – but there’s a lot of apartheid in there, and a lot about the disturbing attacks on refugees last year. It looks like it might – finally! – be the kind of South African story that works without a lot of messages and finger wagging and point scoring. Hurrah.

The movie itself doesn’t open until later this year, but viral campaign is running and the website’s gone live – offering a witty, multi-layered introduction to the origins, sociology, physiology and hardware/technology of the “non-human” aliens that are the focus of the film….. the kind of pre-production and respect for its audience that Terminator Salvation seemed to disdain.

Look out for signs reading “BUS BENCHES FOR HUMANS ONLY” at a bus stop near you……

June 2009 sees the completion of the Durban and KZN Film Industry review, which has been conducted by Martin Cuff Consulting on behalf of the eThekwini Municipality / Durban Film Office and Department of Economic Development of the Province of KZN. The six month review was intended to revisit the province’s performance as a film centre, and to look at innovative new business models that can take the region forward into the future. The resulting draft strategy will be undergoing stakeholder consultation in Durban throughout the month.

Martin Cuff Consulting has also been working in South Africa with the Eastern Cape Development Corporation, devising a broad-based sector growth strategy and promotional plan for the provincial film industry. The Sector Plan includes enterprise and crew development, a location and permit strategy and possible local incentives, including closer cooperation with the Eastern Cape Film office. The draft plan is also currently being tested with provincial stakeholders.

Further afield, Martin returns to Serbia on the 14th June, where he has been working on a USAid-funded initiative for the establishment of the Serbia Film Commission. Having created the framework for the establishment in January / February of this year, and advised on the international launch at the AFCI Locations Trade Show in April 09, the next tasks include driving the creation of the Film in Serbia Board, signing off on the business plan and moving towards legal registration of the organisation.

Also in Eastern Europe, Martin has been working with the Georgia National Film Center in Tbilisi, on the establishment of a film-friendliness programme for the Georgian government. Following meetings with several key ministers in the Georgian government, Martin’s draft of a government statement on film friendliness has now been signed as an official proclamation by the country’s President. At the invitation of the Minister of Culture, Martin was invited to present the country’s planned offerings at the Georgian presentation at the Cannes Film Festival in May this year. Martin returns to Georgia in the spring.

Additionally this month, Martin Cuff Consulting begins work on a feasibility study for a potential Film and Music Office in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro – a blogsite and survey have been set up at the following site.

I’m off to the Cannes Film Festival for the next few days for a series of meetings. Yes, really: all work, no play. Honest.

I’m in Tbilisi in Georgia for a few days, working with the Georgian National Film Center. Had a remarkable meeting with the Minister of Culture this morning; there’s clearly a genuine commitment to attracting international productions, creating jobs, passing on skills. I’m loving it. Of course, they had me at the deep fried cheese…..