The film industry in Cape Town continues to flourish. Permits issued in December totalled 350, in January there were 600, February 860, and in March there were 740. Calderwood stated that while two thirds were for still photoshoots, the rest were for international commercials, and that the commercial shoots are getting longer, up from 3 or 4 days to between 5 and 9 days. Some are even up to two weeks.
He reported further that a recent production came in at over R1-million a day, and that one movie cost R17-million, while most local productions cost from R5 to R6-million.
There were three feature films made in April, Piano Player, Borderline and Adrenaline. Still planned for the rest of this year were another 12, including a French production about Napoleon. Also in the pipeline is a 22 episode sci-fi TV series estimated to take about 18 months to complete, pre- and post. Three or four local mini-series are also planned, which would make up somewhat for the loss of Backstage, which has relocated to Johannesburg.
