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Capture
Runaway Productions
Runaway productions
are those that are developed and are intended for initial release/ exhibition
or television broadcast in one country, but are actually filmed in another
country. Such productions have a great economic impact on the film industry
as a whole since a large amount of revenue is lost from such fleeing films.
There are two types
of runaway productions. Creative Runaway Productions are those, which
are filmed outside the country because the story takes place in a setting
that cannot be duplicated or for any other creative considerations. Economic
Runaway Productions are those, which depart from their home country to
achieve lower production costs. Apart from focusing on home productions,
India should also look at capturing international fleeing productions.
On the creative front, India can offer diverse scenery desirable to film
and television producers, including mountains, golden deserts, sunny beaches
and lush plains.304
Moreover, on the economic front, it has a large labour force, which can
be employed in production activities. This decreases production costs
and only makes the country a more appealing choice.305
However, in order
to attract runaway productions, the Indian film industry needs to invest
in better physical, production and post-production infrastructure. It
also needs to make Hollywood and other film industries aware of the various
benefits it can offer to them so that they will want to film in India.
Action needs to be taken to include tax incentives and new laws of the
kind that many countries use to lure film producers. As mentioned earlier,
countries like Canada, the U.K., Germany and Iceland offer tax incentives
for attracting runaway productions. In these cases, tax incentives are
given in the form of tax credits equivalent to a certain percentage of
labor expenses incurred in those countries. These types of incentives
are linked to a certain type of cost incurred for production and not to
the profits made on the film. The Indian co-production treaty with Canada
is likely to be signed within the next few months.
Improve
Infrastructure
Infrastructure in
the film industry includes studios (production and post-production), the
improvement of existing theaters and the increased presence of multiplexes.
(a) Production
and Post-Production
Studios Mumbai witnesses
perhaps the most activity in film production and therefore has the maximum
number of studios. However, not all these studios are maintained well
and some have closed down due to lack of funds. Moreover, the studios
are not large enough (5 acres at most) when compared to the international
standard (at least 500 acres). One of the prominent international grade
studios is the Ramoji Rao Studio in Hyderabad.
Due to poor studio
facilities, generally more than half of Bollywood films are shot at
outdoor locations, increasing the cost of making the film, affecting
the quality of films churned out and eventually diminishing profitability
for the producers. Moreover, until recently, most of the equipment used
in India was largely outdated. However, companies like Empire Studios,
Crest Communications, CMM and Pentamedia Graphics have altered this
situation and updated their facilities by keeping pace with fast-changing
technology.
Therefore, the studios
await a much-needed facelift, which can only be achieved with better
access to capital and an efficient mechanism that removes the stumbling
blocks in the filmmaking process. One way of overcoming this issue would
be if the smaller studios came together or merged with the large production
houses. The outcome would therefore be the creation of larger production
studios, which would be able to create better-end products. The exposure
to a diversified management team and product mix would increase profitability.
(b) Theaters
and Multiplexes
Theaters constitute
the last chain of the exhibition infrastructure. As mentioned earlier,
most theaters in India possess only basic facilities. Only a few theaters
in major cities like Mumbai and Delhi possess sophisticated equipment
and sound systems. While internationally there are between 30 to 100
screens per million, the number of screens in India is only 11.306
China for example, has 60,000 screens five times as many as India.307
The number of theaters in India has declined increasingly during the
past decade.
Low ticket rates,
low returns, high entertainment taxes and an inadequate number of screens
per capital are making the exhibition business unviable.308
Further, with declining revenues and increasing maintenance costs, the
task of proper upkeep and maintenance of theaters has become difficult.
As a result, theater conditions started deteriorating and attendance
declined even further.
The film industry
is taking a tough stand against piracy, making an effort towards providing
better quality and technically improved films with newer and better
scripts. Additionally, since the Government is taking the initiative
to lower entertainment taxes, theater owners could get their required
boost to increase their collections. Low collections have prevented
theater owners from spending substantially on the much-needed renovations
of their theaters, which have deteriorated over the years.
Recently, the combination
of cinema with other services and facilities has led to the burgeoning
growth of multiplexes. The multiplex model is based on the concept of
umbrella entertainment built around primary anchor films. The revenue
streams, however, do not necessarily center around a single anchor.
More often than not, multiplexes earn a lot more from other revenue
sources as compared to box office collections, thus hedging the risks
of theater owners. This proves to be a financially better option than
single screen theaters. However, a comparison with the international
markets shows that India hardly has any multiplexes. With renovated
old theaters under the guise of multiplexes, India has a long way to
go to meet international standards. The average number of screens in
India per multiplex is not more than three, which falls short in comparison
to the international scenario that have not only a larger number of
multiplexes but also an average of eight screens per multiplex. The
Indian government has offered generous tax breaks to boost the construction
of multiplexes. Around 400 multiplexes are being built, which will possible
add 1200-1500 screens in the next 18 months.309
Training
Institutions
Even though Bollywood
has a huge pool of creative and talented artists, the one thing that is
lacking is training schools. A vast majority of the actors today have
developed acting abilities through private tutors and only a few of them
are graduates of professional institutions like the Film and Television
Institute of India. This is also the case with most technicians, such
as directors, cinematographers, etc. As a result of this vacuum of training
schools, moste Indian artists have had no formal training and have acquired
their skills through on-the-job training. Today, there is a dearth of
professionally trained artists and technicians in India. However, this
drawback has been much discussed and, as of today, the Indian film industry
is taking steps to rectify this situation by initiating setting up schools
to impart professional training in this field. One prime example is that
of the model of Whistling Woods International an Institute for Film, Television
and Media Arts, promoted by Mukta Arts Limited. Subhash Ghai's training
school to be set up in Mumbai (at Film City) by 2003 is, according to
Bhishma Agnihotri, "realistic for the future development of India's next
generation.”310
Similarly, according
to newspaper sources, New York University and UCLA have expressed their
interest to set up filmmaking schools in India in partnership with Indian
entrepreneurs and conduct periodic workshops to upgrade the skills of
Indian film professionals.<311
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