twofour54 celebrates milestones as the Capital celebrates its government’s golden jubilee
30 Oct 2016
On the occasion of the Abu Dhabi Government’s Golden Jubilee, Acting CEO of twofour54, Maryam Al Mheiri, shared the vision of the company, its achievements and future direction.
twofour54 is one of Abu Dhabi’s main government entities. Since inception in 2008, it has been significant in enabling a new generation of creative talent, marking Abu Dhabi as a leading creative hub in the region. It has also developed state-of-the-art facilities to attract local, regional, and international media companies to the Emirate, bolstering the growth of the industry as a result.
On the occasion of the Abu Dhabi Government’s Golden Jubilee, Acting CEO of twofour54, Maryam Al Mheiri, shared the vision of the company, its achievements and future direction saying: “Our vision is to become an international hub for media, an enabler of this industry’s sustainable growth, and a platform for diversified media and innovation that exports productions from Abu Dhabi to the world. We have worked diligently in the past years and continued to develop a solid infrastructure that is strengthened with local talent to sustain the future of the media sector.”
Since its establishment, twofour54 has licensed more than 550 Arabic and international media and entertainment companies including Sky News Arabia, Image Nation, Ubisoft, CNN, Fox, Flash Entertainment, M&C Saatchi, and Flat6labs, in addition to a pool of 600 bilingual talented freelancers.
Moreover, twofour54 offers world-class production facilities, talent development and internship programmes, and support services for the commercial operations of media companies. It has also created more than 3,500 jobs in the media sector, helped create nearly 9000 hours of TV content, and trained more than 6800 through its professional media training courses.
twofour54 has focused on youth and nurturing their creative energy through the formation of its creative lab which has a database of more than 11,000 members of innovators and creators who aspire to work in the media and entertainment industry. twoforu54’s creative lab supports those members in their projects which vary from TV shows, films, books, music, gaming applications, and animation.
“Our ambition crosses local boarders to the region and international media scene which has resulted in attracting high profile projects to film in the Capital. This includes Hollywood’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Fast and Furious 7, as well as Bollywood’s Dishoom, Baby, and Bang Bang, in addition to Arabic dramas Al Ikhwa and Hamam Shami. Adding to that popular TV shows like Top Gear and The Bold and the Beautiful,” added Al Mheiri.
She continued: “twofour54’s comprehensive production infrastructure that combines world-class services and facilities, as well as studios that offer HD filming quality, production and post-production services, and a playout centre, has contributed to attracting regional and international producers. Abu Dhabi Film Commission’s rebate scheme, which was launched in 2013 and offers a 30% rebate on all production spend with no finance cap, was also one of the main factors that lured producers to choose Abu Dhabi as their preferred filming location in addition to the free location scouting services and tax free environment.”
We have a positive future outlook to achieve our objectives at twofour54, which aims to increase the media sector’s contribution to the Emirate’s GDP and position the industry as a key player in the economic diversification plan of Abu Dhabi.
“twofour54 looks to attract more productions, businesses and rewarding partnerships in the media sector in recognition of the sector’s value in boosting the national economy and tourism. Based on our experience in hosting international productions in the Capital, we have witnessed its economic impact on tourism as hotels occupancy rates increased, and spending on parks, restaurants, and other tourism facilities have also grown.”
twofour54 aspires to accomplish more achievements in different aspects like attracting media companies that create cutting-edge content within digital media and e-commerce. It also aims to attract more Arab and international producers to film in Abu Dhabi, as well as create more job and training opportunities for Emirati youth in addition to investing in state-of-art facilities that offer media professionals and talents the latest technologies available worldwide.
Back to news press listing