Kenya taps into Chinese film market with screenplay competition – Nairobi News

The Ministry of ICT through the Kenya Film Commission (KFC), and Kenya Film School have launched a screenplay/script writing competition that will see the winners have their work co-produced by international production houses in China.

Speaking during the launch on Tuesday ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru said the competition is geared towards identifying Kenyan script writers.

This he says are some of the measures being taken to spur growth in Kenya’s film sector.

“Thinking ahead, the Ministry is exploring the establishment of a film and media city in Kenya with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment that would be world class. Such a city will support the exponential growth of the industry – actors, producers, directors will be able to earn more by incurring lower production costs. At the same time, support industries such as equipment, props, make-up, music, and sound will benefit immensely from a film and media city,” said Mr Mucheru.

The Cabinet Secretary further added that alongside pursuing the passing of the film policy at by the cabinet, the government, through relevant agencies, was exploring introduction of airing levy, to be collected by Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB), to be charged on all ads and series produced out of the country but viewed in Kenya and used as revenue pullers.

WINNERS’ PRIZES

“Ad agencies by-pass local production houses, spend all the money in India, Malaysia and other markets, hence denying locals jobs and income. And when they come here, the tax levied is only equivalent to the value of the hard disk,” he said.

The CS reiterated the ministry’s commitment to the growth of the the film industry in Kenya by ensuring that barriers to film production such as multi-agency licenses are reviewed to encourage growth in the sector.

The script writing competition, whose call for entries closes on February 26th, will see five winners receive a total of Sh 2 million, with the overall winner taking home Sh 1 million.

The first runners up will receive Sh500,000, second runners up Sh 300,000, while the best student and best young writer will each be rewarded with Sh100,000.

To submit your script, go to: http://kenyafilmcommission.com/index.php/competitions/script-writing-competition