FILM Fiji has received interests from film-makers for 22 television shows, documentaries and five TV feature films with a budget of $25.2 million so far this year.
Organisation chief executive Florence Swamy said 15 feature films were also planned for production with a total budget of $83.5m and two episodes of reality shows with a budget of $310,000 and several more TV shows.
However, she said all films had different budgets but country filming yielded many results in a short period of time.
“Film Fiji commissioned an independent study in 2004 to determine the impact of productions on the local economy,” Mrs Swamy said.
“The study showed that $2.81m worth of new economic activity was generated for each dollar of Fiji’s expenditure and 63 full-time equivalent jobs created for every $1m of the expenditure.”
She said if the production was shooting in the country using the Film Tax Rebate or any other filming incentives, it must set up a local company.
“They must obtain various government approvals and pay fees for these where applicable,” she said.
“They will also need to obtain approvals from the owners of the locations that they wish to shoot at and pay appropriate location fees.”
Meanwhile, Mrs Swamy said Yaqara Studio City in Viti Levu was a private investment where different government agencies were involved in granting the various permits and approvals required for the investors to develop the studio city.
She said Film Fiji was engaged in determining the agencies involved in the initial approval stages with a view to determine further courses of action.