Qatar Forges Hollywood Ties as Country That Hosted 2022 World Cup Unveils Film Industry Ambitions
After Al Jazeera and the 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament put Qatar on the global map, the tiny Arab state rich in oil and gas is now turning to film and TV. And Hollywood is an integral part of that plan.
The Industry Days component of the just concluded Doha Film Festival was attended by top executives from Sony Pictures and U.S. indie studios Neon, A-24, Department M and Miramax – which is jointly owned by Qatar’s beIN Media Group and Paramount Global – as well as by former James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli. Broccoli and actor/director David Oyelowo announced a Doha-set contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Othello” that Oyelowo will direct and star in alongside Rachel Brosnahan and Cynthia Erivo.
The U.S. studios tht attended the Doha confab are now all doing business with Qatar through co-development, co-production and co-financing deals that were announced earlier this week meant to spawn still unspecified mostly Arab-language projects. Also on hand was Hollywood veteran Steven Paul, who is an advisor on movie matters to President Donald Trump and was looking to strike a co-production deal.
“We are building the foundations of a world class [film and TV] ecosystem with new infrastructure, production facilities and post-production capabilities supported by vast technology, and data analytics,” said Hassan Al Thawadi, the Qatari lawyer who oversaw the 2022 World Cup. He is now leading The Qatar Film Committee, an official body that is part of the Media City Qatar hub tasked with driving growth of the country’s entertainment industry.
But Al Thawadi made it clear that Hollywood should not be expecting any handouts from Qatar.
“This agreement is about more than financing films,” he said, after announcing the relatively modest pact with Neon that involves six to 10 feature films and shorts over a four-year period that Neon will co-finance and distribute. “It’s about creating a new platform for Arabic and regional storytelling, ensuring that stories from Qatar and the wider Arab world are seen, celebrated, and shared globally.”
“We are here to champion Arab cinema, nurture regional talent and deepen collaboration across the Arab world,” Al Thawadi went on to point out. “And our goal is to see this region – as well as the wider global South – recognized as a driving force in global creativity with Arab storytelling at its heart.”
“By expanding cooperation opportunities and attracting investment and forging international partnerships, we aim to build an ecosystem that is self-sustaining, globally connected, and fearlessly proud of its roots,” Al Thawadi went on to point out.
According to Los Angeles-based producer Stuart Ford, who heads AGC Studios and has being doing business in the Middle East for years, the flurry of deals between Qatar and Hollywood companies announced in Doha is “part of a well-thought-out strategy.” The Industry Days were “something of a launchpad for Qatar to become another prominent regional player in the entertainment sector,” he added.
“There is clearly a strategy at play, and that overall strategy may well be different to that of the experienced and sophisticated UAE or the more populous KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia],” Ford noted, pointing out that “clearly the priority is on excellence rather than volume.”
The cornerstone of Qatar’s nascent film and TV industry is its freshly announced rebate called Qatar Screen Production Incentive that offers an up to 50% in cash on qualifying Qatari production spend, combining a 40% base rebate with an additional uplift of up to 10% for productions that meet defined criteria such as hiring Qatari talent, investing in local training, promoting Qatari culture, and other aspects of industry development.
The new Qatari rebate is “untethered and not connected to production,” said Stefan Sonnenfeld, head of post-production and VFX giant Company 3, which handles post-production on a large portion of Hollywood series and films – including, most recently, “Wicked: For Good,” and “Stranger Things” Season 5 – just as Sonnenfeld announced a deal to set up a post-production and VFX studio in Doha.
“So basically, anybody can work here and participate in it,” added Sonnenfeld, who also acted as a consultant on the Qatari rebate, which he called “one of the best in the world right now.”
For Doha-based filmmaker and producer Ahmed Al Baker, who is CEO of Katara Studios, which at the festival launched what is being billed as first Qatari feature film – a psychological thriller titled “Sa3ood Wainah?” – the invitation to tap into Qatar’s new rebate besides being aimed at Hollywood will also be for Arab production companies “that are next door because we are a couple of hours away by airplane,” he said.
“The Middle East is our turf, O.K.? The Middle East is our industry,” Al Baker noted. “What The Film Committee is going to be pushing is for the Qatar incentive to bring in projects from the region. And hopefully the beneficiaries of that will be everyone who surrounds us.”
The Industry Days component of the just concluded Doha Film Festival was attended by top executives from Sony Pictures and U.S. indie studios Neon, A-24, Department M and Miramax – which is jointly owned by Qatar’s beIN Media Group and Paramount Global – as well as by former James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli. Broccoli and actor/director David Oyelowo announced a Doha-set contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Othello” that Oyelowo will direct and star in alongside Rachel Brosnahan and Cynthia Erivo.
The U.S. studios tht attended the Doha confab are now all doing business with Qatar through co-development, co-production and co-financing deals that were announced earlier this week meant to spawn still unspecified mostly Arab-language projects. Also on hand was Hollywood veteran Steven Paul, who is an advisor on movie matters to President Donald Trump and was looking to strike a co-production deal.
“We are building the foundations of a world class [film and TV] ecosystem with new infrastructure, production facilities and post-production capabilities supported by vast technology, and data analytics,” said Hassan Al Thawadi, the Qatari lawyer who oversaw the 2022 World Cup. He is now leading The Qatar Film Committee, an official body that is part of the Media City Qatar hub tasked with driving growth of the country’s entertainment industry.
But Al Thawadi made it clear that Hollywood should not be expecting any handouts from Qatar.
“This agreement is about more than financing films,” he said, after announcing the relatively modest pact with Neon that involves six to 10 feature films and shorts over a four-year period that Neon will co-finance and distribute. “It’s about creating a new platform for Arabic and regional storytelling, ensuring that stories from Qatar and the wider Arab world are seen, celebrated, and shared globally.”
“We are here to champion Arab cinema, nurture regional talent and deepen collaboration across the Arab world,” Al Thawadi went on to point out. “And our goal is to see this region – as well as the wider global South – recognized as a driving force in global creativity with Arab storytelling at its heart.”
“By expanding cooperation opportunities and attracting investment and forging international partnerships, we aim to build an ecosystem that is self-sustaining, globally connected, and fearlessly proud of its roots,” Al Thawadi went on to point out.
According to Los Angeles-based producer Stuart Ford, who heads AGC Studios and has being doing business in the Middle East for years, the flurry of deals between Qatar and Hollywood companies announced in Doha is “part of a well-thought-out strategy.” The Industry Days were “something of a launchpad for Qatar to become another prominent regional player in the entertainment sector,” he added.
“There is clearly a strategy at play, and that overall strategy may well be different to that of the experienced and sophisticated UAE or the more populous KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia],” Ford noted, pointing out that “clearly the priority is on excellence rather than volume.”
The cornerstone of Qatar’s nascent film and TV industry is its freshly announced rebate called Qatar Screen Production Incentive that offers an up to 50% in cash on qualifying Qatari production spend, combining a 40% base rebate with an additional uplift of up to 10% for productions that meet defined criteria such as hiring Qatari talent, investing in local training, promoting Qatari culture, and other aspects of industry development.
The new Qatari rebate is “untethered and not connected to production,” said Stefan Sonnenfeld, head of post-production and VFX giant Company 3, which handles post-production on a large portion of Hollywood series and films – including, most recently, “Wicked: For Good,” and “Stranger Things” Season 5 – just as Sonnenfeld announced a deal to set up a post-production and VFX studio in Doha.
“So basically, anybody can work here and participate in it,” added Sonnenfeld, who also acted as a consultant on the Qatari rebate, which he called “one of the best in the world right now.”
For Doha-based filmmaker and producer Ahmed Al Baker, who is CEO of Katara Studios, which at the festival launched what is being billed as first Qatari feature film – a psychological thriller titled “Sa3ood Wainah?” – the invitation to tap into Qatar’s new rebate besides being aimed at Hollywood will also be for Arab production companies “that are next door because we are a couple of hours away by airplane,” he said.
“The Middle East is our turf, O.K.? The Middle East is our industry,” Al Baker noted. “What The Film Committee is going to be pushing is for the Qatar incentive to bring in projects from the region. And hopefully the beneficiaries of that will be everyone who surrounds us.”