Neom currently has a pipeline of 16 productions with up to 40 likely to take place over the next couple of years, according to the head of its media arm, Wayne Borg.
Neom has inked a new partnership agreement with Telfaz11, a creative media studio with offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. According to the deal, Telfaz11, which specialises in creating entertainment content for Middle East viewers, will develop nine TV and film productions over the next three years at Neom. The deal is only one of several that Neom hopes to announce in the following weeks, Wayne Borg, Managing Director of Media Industries, Entertainment, and Culture at Neom, told BroadcastPro ME.
The collaboration between the two parties will accelerate the growth of Neom’s media industries ecosystem, ensuring a rich pipeline of productions, including two feature films and one series currently in development under the new arrangement. Telfaz11 recently made headlines with its latest theatrical feature film Sattar, which was declared the highest-grossing film of all time in Saudi Arabia.
Alaa Faden, CEO and co-founder of Telfaz11 said: “Telfaz11 has consistently operated on the leading edge of innovation, from launching the first Netflix partnership in the region to leveraging our powerful social media presence. This new partnership with Neom is yet another milestone in that effort.”
In addition to productions, Telfaz11 also plans to establish a physical presence at Neom by opening offices this year in Neom’s media hub. This new office will complement the company’s offices in Riyadh and Dubai. Neom will also leverage Telfaz11’s new offices at its facility to diversify its industry learning activities and multi-disciplinary talent development programmes, creating a vibrant talent pool across the value chain and strong career pathways for graduates.
Speaking about the partnership as well as the wider attraction that Neom holds for the production market, Borg said: “Their decision to strike up a partnership with us reflects that they have got confidence in what we’re doing here and how things are evolving rapidly here. It also reflects our ability to support their business in developing both within the region and further afield. I think that’s where you know this is so complementary that they do have an appreciation of what we’re trying to achieve and how that can help facilitate their success moving forward.”
Neom currently has “a pipeline of 16 productions lined up and potentially up to 40 over the next couple of years”, claims Borg.
With a number of productions in place, Borg is confident that the talent pool Neom has helped develop will have a continuous roster of productions to work on.
“We’ve put 300 young Saudi nationals through applied learning so far. Around 200 of them have got placements and attachments on productions. That’s why the pipeline is so important. The experience on set that they get and and their real world experience have helped them secure full-time employment now and we see a real appetite to pursue careers in this industry. The fact that we can provide the training and the learning and on the back of that, the work experience opportunities that lead to full time careers here is really rewarding.”
He stated that Neom is on a “fairly accelerated trajectory” right now.
“We have just come back from Cannes, where we had a lot of fruitful meetings. People are hearing about us and talking to the producers who worked here, and those positive experiences are being shared. Some of the content produced here is now starting to get out into the marketplace and they’re seeing the results on screen. All that bodes well for us,” he remarked.
He pointed to the success of Ard Al-Million, which was filmed entirely in Neom. The adventure reality TV show is based on the international Dutch-founded format, Million Dollar Island, that premiered on MBC last month.
“We are not just establishing ourselves as a hub here in Saudi Arabia, but as a real gateway for the international production community.”
He also remarked that the weather conditions in Neom favoured year-round shooting.
“We are about five to ten degrees cooler than the rest of the Gulf and it’s a much drier heat here. We don’t suffer the humidity that you get in the Gulf and that gives us a bit more flexibility. In fact, Desert Warrior was filmed here pretty much all the way through summer.”
Neom has provided the backdrop for 30 productions in the last 18 months, including Rupert Wyatt’s Desert Warrior, starring Anthony Mackie and Sir Ben Kingsley; Dunki directed by Rajkumar Hirani and starring Shahrukh Khan; local acclaimed Saudi feature Within Sand directed by Moe Alatawi; the first regional reality TV show Million Dollar Island; and Rise of The Witches, the region’s biggest-ever budget TV show. MBC’s Exceptional, a 200-episode-per-year TV drama series, is set to begin shooting in July.
