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GEORGE NEWS VIDEO - The Garden Route Film Office's annual general meeting was scheduled for last week Tuesday, 26 November, but not enough members showed up to have a quorum for the election of a new board.
According to chairman Philip DeVries they needed 32 of the 63 registered members to be present. Only a few people pitched up. The meeting was postponed to 5 February next year.
Those present watched a video message from Cape Town film maker John DeVries who shared tips on how to create a destination that is favourable for the film industry. He made it clear that it will take a lot of hard work. Film crews want assurance that the infrastructure and services are available.
The Garden Route has incredible locations and the potential, but the area is not ready for big film projects.
According to Philip DeVries, training of young people by a private company has been taking place in the past year since the film office was established. Representatives have also visited a number of film festivals where the Garden Route was marketed as a film production destination.
Jacques van der Merwe of Hartland Productions with Danielle Troskie (centre) and Karen van der Walt, both of B6 Productions. They worked together on a video production that aims to introduce the Garden Route to a wider audience in the film industry.
Dissatisfaction
However, a dissatisfied visitor to the AGM, Marius Wannenburg of The Media Box in Johannesburg and local production company Garden Route Media, said the film office is not doing enough to get the ball rolling. He said a database of existing suppliers in the industry should have been established by now. Furthermore, the film office that should be facilitating the issuing of filming permits, has not made any progress in this regard.
Watch a video below.
"Nothing tangible has been achieved. There is almost no communication with members. Members are disillusioned. That is why they did not come for the meeting."
In reply, Philip DeVries said a database has been in development, but hindered by organisational problems due to limited resources.
"We are well on the way towards our database membership goals of end 2020. Our permit system is operational on a basic level and we have been working with local municipalities when needed to get the necessary permits for production crews and have been very successful in doing that.
"We agree there are still a few teething dilemmas with the permit system, but the municipalities have an IT company working on their internal systems to make the process work smoothly. A good existing model is the Knysna Municipality where an operational system is already in place."
He said their communication has been limited in the past due to a challenge with their administration system. This has been corrected in recent months with the addition of a proper administrator.
"The board of directors have been working and assisting wherever and whenever they could, and with a year of operations behind us, we have been able to see where we need to improve and shape up. 2020 will give us the opportunity to work more progressively towards promoting the region and thereby be on the world radar system for the film industry as well as communicating better with members of the film office."
Read a related article: Garden Route Film Office's AGM next week
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