Johannesburg is becoming ”film unfriendly”, the Gauteng Film Commission said on Thursday.
Film crews are being charged more and more to use tourist venues and other attractions, or are refused access completely, the commission said in a statement.
This undermines the significant media exposure the city stands to benefit by hosting the Confederations Cup next year and the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
It may also ”contribute to negative coverage of the country in the international media in the run-up to both events”.
The commission said a promotional shoot in Johannesburg can easily involve more than 15 city locations over two days. ”If you add up the location fees, film crews are expected to pay up to R25 000 per day,” said the commission’s senior marketing manager, Jacques Stoltz.
”In many instances the film crews are in Johannesburg to film promotional films of the city’s key attractions in the run-up to the Confederations Cup and the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
”Over and above the location fees, crews also need to pay R450 an hour for filming on public roads. To these crews it understandably feels as if the city is doing them a favour, and not the other way around.
”The result is that even London and New York seem to offer more value, a scenario that will have a negative impact on the country,” said Stoltz.
He said interest in film shoots covering South Africa is rising.
The commission has noticed a ”sharp increase” in requests for access to filming locations by international film and television crews visiting Gauteng in order to report on progress around the hosting of the Confederations Cup and the World Cup.
”The interest is particularly around 2010 stadiums, transport infrastructure, host cities, hospitality and accommodation services, leisure amenities and visitor attractions.
”As many of these film shoots are for travel magazines and shows, from some of the province’s key international tourism markets, this provides a valuable opportunity for the city and the tourism industry to market both its public and privately owned tourism attractions to the world in the run-up to 2010.
”We have raised these concerns with the city and the tourism industry and have stressed the importance of ensuring uninhibited access by film and television crews to our visitor attractions,” said Stoltz.
”This, we believe, is not only in the interest of the film industry, but is vital to the marketing and tourism efforts of the city of Johannesburg.” — Sapa