This month production house Joy Films will officially open its first branch in Lebanon, homed in a beautiful traditional house in the Gemmayzé quarter of Beirut. The company, based in the UK, with offices in the US and Dubai, differs from most production houses in that it is director-based. That is, it is director-owned and uses a pool of freelance producers; most houses work the other way round.
The Joy Films Middle East plan is a simple one: the company will be split between a main operation in Lebanon, and the Dubai office. The Lebanon branch will include research and media, with film and photography production work organized through outsourcing and freelancers; the Dubai office will retain client servicing and limited production facilities.
“When we started in Dubai [in October 2008] many agencies and production people asked why not in Lebanon,” says Ali Azarmi, managing partner. “We had Lebanon on our radar, as well as India later on, but Dubai is where most headquarters of clients are based and it was important to be close to immediate contacts.”
THE LEBANON LURE. Joy Films was considering a relocation to Studio City in Dubai when Lebanese executive producer Rita Hachem was recruited in early 2009. She’s the one who put Lebanon firmly on the drawing board instead, and she will now supervise both the Dubai and Beirut operations. Hachem says it was the global downturn that provided the final push to her plan – one that was always in the back of her mind.
“Recession is a very good time to start,” she says. “Such a revolution creates opportunities; our projections are not based on 2008, when everything was going up. We have geared ourselves very specifically.”
With budgets shrinking and clients becoming more cautious, an increasing number of projects should be produced locally. “So Beirut makes more sense in terms of production value,” says Hachem. “Even before the recession, against most locations in the world, Beirut is attractive, because of its diversity of locations, people, looks and feels, all in a small area. Besides, a massive pool of talents is available. All that support doesn’t really exist in Dubai. The fact that we managed to secure everything easily and fast [when setting up in Beirut] reflects the ease of the system in Lebanon versus Dubai.” Communicate reported on the competitive advantage enjoyed in Lebanon as opposed to Dubai in last year’s February issue (see “Commercial venture,” page 32, Communicate, Feb. 2008).
CROWDED MARKET. Joy Films is not the first production house to move to Beirut recently. Over the past nine months, the Big Kahuna, Dolce Vita, and Film Works have all expanded from Dubai into Cedar country. And, unsurprisingly, the extra competition is not always welcome.
“The cake is getting smaller and the number of guests keep growing,” says Gabriel Chamoun, CEO of production house The Talkies. “Unless they bring a real added value – which everybody claims to do – there’s no more room. Even well-established, large companies are going through a rough patch.”
But Azarmi is confident. “There’s room for Joy. Only few companies have the same philosophy as us in terms of servicing. We’re not here to provide just a service, we’re creative thinkers. And Joy Films is the first international production company to seriously invest in the Middle East. The scale of production that Joy has experienced brings things to a different level. We want to encourage Western agencies and clients to come to Lebanon for production. The presence of Joy may give them confidence; it can reassure them.”