A Film Commission for Northern Cyprus
By Chris Elliott……
I have been following the activities of fellow writer and friend, Peter Wills and trying to help him in any way possible to achieve his ambitions.
As many of our readers will have discovered when they read Peter’s series of articles called “Namedropper” they will have realised he has spent 40 years working as a marketing manager, journalist and public relations manager in the tourism, leisure and hospitality industries. He has also had experience within the film and TV industry as an actor, extra and location researcher.
Retiring to North Cyprus some 6 years a
go he, like many expatriates, felt he wanted to give from his wealth of experiences to his new-found homeland and meeting a young and talented Turkish-Cypriot entrepreneur, they formed a service company “North Cyprus Film” to offer a service to would-be film makers and encourage them to come to North Cyprus which has a wide range of locations that are suitable and mirror locations in many other parts of the world.
As Peter said “we have had some successes and have had enquiries from a number of film makers but I soon realised it is a major task promoting the benefit for film makers to consider North Cyprus and whilst we could provide the services they need, we need to concentrate more on promoting North Cyprus as a location to generate more interest which ultimately will lead to more film makers wanting to come to North Cyprus.
In virtually every country in Europe and, indeed, throughout the world, there is an independent body called a “Film Commission”.
It is a non-government organisation run very much as a normal company with a properly constructed financial plan, coupled with sound business and marketing plans.
It has a Board of Directors usually made up of entrepreneurs from the business sector, with government representation and one or more people with a knowledge of the film industry. Depending on the size of the country and the requirements of such a “commission” one or more administrative personnel will be employed on a part-time or even full-time basis.
The role of the (envisaged) Commission (for North Cyprus) is to market the unmatched historical, natural and cultural richness of North Cyprus as a must visit location for the international Film, TV and Commercial production industries. With this is mind, we are looking to gain the support, both physically and financially, of Government Ministries, The Commercial Sector and Individuals and are now seeking opportunities to meet these potential key players in the TRNC.”
This is clearly a very ambitious concept but with a number of likeminded people coming together it is far from an impossible dream and we applaud this project and will make our media and communication expertise available to promote a Film Commission as it starts to develop.
