Al-Sabah to Al-Sharq: Finance is the weakest link in drama production

2024-04-11 16:16:19

Funding constitutes the weakest link in the production of Arab drama, according to producer Sadiq Al-Sabah, who pointed out a gap between what is required of this industry and the capabilities available to it.

He added in an interview with Al-Sharq that the amount of government support to finance this industry is “zero,” but Saudi Arabia has begun to show boldness in the field of financing production and supporting artistic industries.

Read also: Saudi Arabia enhances investments in the entertainment sector by launching a new fund for film production

Saudi Arabia intends to launch the Saudi Film Fund through a partnership between “MEFIC Capital” and “Ru’a Media Ventures” worth $100 million, to invest in the film industry in the Kingdom, in one of the first bets on the fastest growing film production markets in the region.

In February, Counselor Turki Al-Sheikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, announced the establishment of the “Big Time” investment fund, which aims to raise the quality of Arabic content in the production, distribution and industry of films, and the parties contributing to it allocated 4 billion pounds. Egyptian fund (regarding $129 million) in its first phase, with the “Big Time Two” fund being launched at a later stage, followed by the “Big Time Three” fund.

In 2019, the Kingdom launched the “Red Sea International Film Festival” in its first edition, and last year it unveiled the launch of two funds in the French city of Cannes to invest in production infrastructure and invest in the film industry.

Production value for the Ramadan season

Al-Sabah pointed out that the value of the television drama industry in the Arab world reached approximately $200 million during the 2024 Ramadan season, and the “Sabah Brothers” company has a share of regarding 35% of it. Al-Sabah pointed out that the value of production throughout the entire year amounts to $500 million, of which his company’s share is only 10%.

This comes following the industry suffered due to “Covid-19” and its consequences, as filming of a number of series faltered at the beginning of the pandemic, and they were absent from the Ramadan screen during the 2020 season, and a number of actors were infected with the virus.

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