twofour54, Charisma, Abu Dhabi, broadcastpro Middle east, Vijaya Cherian
Lebanese production house and broadcast consultancy firm, Charisma, will begin its Abu Dhabi operations from November 2010. The media firm, which produces more than 1200 hours of television content every year, will use twofour’s technical facilities at intaj for its productions.
In its first year at twofour54, Charisma Gulf hopes to produce around 1000 hours of television content and 200 hours of drama, Ayman Al Zyoud, CEO and founder of Charisma told BroadcastPro Middle East.
“We will produce both scripted and non-scripted content from Abu Dhabi. We are looking at 1000 hours of TV material and 200 hours of drama in the first year and that will increase in the coming years. We are already in the process of developing ideas with local broadcasters in Abu Dhabi and we are in the pre-production stage of certain drama series that we will announce in the coming six to eight weeks,” he stated.
Charisma already employs around 70 people in its Lebanese office and has operations in different parts of the Arab world including Riyadh, Jeddah, Manama, Cairo, Beirut and Dubai.
The Abu Dhabi operations, however, will be quite large and is likely to employ between 70 and 120 people including both permanent staff and freelancers to meet Charisma’s ambitious goals.
“We will begin with one studio as of November 1 and then, require two from March. We will be using the intaj facilities for the next five years and their facilities are already operational,” added Al Zyoud.
Charisma’s move to twofour54 and their large-scale projects will create more employment opportunities for people in the UAE.
Tony Orsten, twofour54’s CEO, commented that twofour54 intaj had booked more than 500 production days to produce close to 1000 hours of TV programming since its production, post-production and broadcast facilities were launched at the end of 2009.
Speaking about Charisma’s move to twofour54, COO Wayne Borg told BroadcastPro: “For us, this is a game change at a number of levels because it creates a number of fantastic opportunities for freelancers and shows that we have a thriving production base in Abu Dhabi. It also allows us to support Charisma in their efforts to produce quality content and stimulate their own growth in this region.”
A more detailed story based on an exclusive interview with Charisma and twofour54 will be available in the November issue of BroadcastPro Middle East.
