twofour54s sparkling new Abu Dhabi intaj facility was opened Sunday, September 27, at a VIP-rich event, and promising to bring a fresh approach to Middle East production and post-production demands. Tony Orsten, CEO at twofour54 (named after Abu Dhabis 24 degrees North, 54 degrees East geographic coordinates) said the studios were not just to create extra hours of new MENA content, important as that is. Todays launch introduces the final component of twofour54s content creation community, which is designed to facilitate the development of a sustainable media industry in the MENA region.
But he stressed that buildings, and facilities like those at twofour54 were also important so that programming could be made. We are a content creation community. Our media partners help make that possible, he explained. Our media partners, whether in the shape of CNN, or the BBC or Harper Collins, they take part in our work and people like CNN, as well as building their own facility here, will also take our young people. Theyll be part of the training process, taking interns into the system, from the region, and in order to learn more. Every media partner present with us has a similar commitment to participation.
Orsten declined to supply the full list of an anticipated roster of 66 such partners, but said many were major names and announcements would be forthcoming soon.
At twofour54s heart is a six-studio complex, available on a wet or dry basis, and complete with edit suites, post-production facilities, sound, graphics, and all the other elements expected by todays demanding producers. The six studios are headed by a 650 sq m beast, a pair of 280 sq m spaces (both already fully hired) and two 60 sq m babies, each fully equipped with Sony HDC-1500 HDTV cameras, and the sort of technical provision that would make any studio manager green with envy. And not a tape machine in the building, said Orsten.
Twofour54 is also looking to tap into the explosive growth of local channels out of the region. Its near-neighbor, Dubai, is uplinking hundreds of channels onto Nilesat and Arabsat. Twofour54 has anticipated demand and pre-installed encoding, multiplexing and encryption kit ready to handle DTH clients.
Indeed, it is difficult not to be dazzled by the fit-out, both in terms of the physical buildings but also in regard to the standard of back stage decoration where seemingly just about every fixture is chromed and polished to a sparkle, and including purpose-designed signage and a degree of planning thats rare in the business.
But perhaps even more important than the bricks, mortar, glass and thousands of miles of fibre, is a fresh approach to permitting freelance staff into the Emirate. Nearby Dubai, itself no slouch as far as media development is concerned, charges freelancers a 24,000 Dirhams (about US$6500) annual fee in order to work in the Emirate.
Orsten, while not putting a price on the anticipated charge for Abu Dhabi hinted that it would be very competitive and will be formally announced at the end of October. Freelancers can then get a UAE residence visa and be eligible to work at twofour54 or any of companys partners including Abu Dhabi TV, CNN, Atlas TV, C-Sky Pictures, or the other partners already in train but not yet announced.