DPM On The Bounce Back Of Film Incentives

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper says he is “looking aggressively” to bring back film incentives.

In recent years, the small screen hit, “Black Sails”, featured storylines centered around The Bahamas. But you may be surprised to find out it wasn’t filmed here. It was filmed 12,000km (or 7,500 miles) away, in South Africa.

A likely reason? Film incentives. Cape Town has them- but The Bahamian government hasn’t offered film incentives for over a decade. As a result, international production companies often opt to film in other tropical locations.

But, Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper says we may see the return of film incentives soon.

Film incentives does more than benefit the production company. Once production is taking place in The Bahamas, those people hire local caterers, go on excursions, and visit local restaurants, directly pumping money back into the economy.

The Bahamas last offered film incentives in 2005 and 2006 where major blockbusters, like the second and third installments of Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as the Bond Movie Casino Royale made use of the incentives.

Over those two years, The Bahamas brought in over fifty million dollars from the film industry, averaging 25 million dollars a year.In recent pre-pandemic years, without the incentive, we’ve averaged only five or six million dollars a year from the business.