100 Million Reasons to Visit South Africa

Variety reported today on a new fund from Shyanne Media, CP Medien and Frame werk that will fund a collective E100 million in film production in South Africa (see article). Apparently, besides having a fantastic array of locations and experienced crew:

"The dollar is strong, and we got a 15% rebate on every penny we spent there, which was around $8 million," McCord said [based on his experiences with "Ask the Dust"].

It would appear that the fund is the initial foray into location based tax funds that will likely benefit from creating deep relationships with local crew and politicians to gain access to the greatest amount of soft money possible -- thereby reducing their absolute financial commitment.

And how do they intend to attract productions? Well, with the option of the filmmakers to purchase their film back within twelve (12) months of release for an (apparent) 25% fixed return on investment. Of course, the fund also provides the tax write-off for investing in the film in the first place.