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Hollywood producer says saga threatens Baha Mar tv series

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE battle over the $3.5 billion Baha Mar development is jeopardising what a well-known Hollywood producer described as a “major opportunity” for the promotion of the Bahamas internationally as well as the advancement of the local film industry.

“I’ve never seen such resistance,” Scott Steindorff, the American film and television producer who has produced films such as ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’, ‘Chef’ and ‘Penelope’, as well as the NBC television series ‘Las Vegas’ told Tribune Business. Mr Steindorff had planned to film a television series ‘Bahamas’ at the now stalled Cable Beach resort.

“We had made a deal with Baha Mar because I had never seen such an unbelievable resort. I think that when everything is resolved it will be one of the greatest in the world - and I’ve been all over the world. I had a deal with them and they were great to work with. Myself and other writers went there, spent a lot of time and I sent my director there. We paid money to do the show and started casting for the show, I mean movie stars. I had one of the biggest directors in Hollywood, Rob Cohen of The Fast and Furious, to direct it and one of the biggest writers, Rob Weiss, who did ‘Entourage’,” said Mr Steindorff.

Mr Steindorff noted that the ‘Las Vegas’ television series, which was centred around a resort and ran from 2003 to 2008 had helped to revitalise that city, attracted 15-18 million US television viewers a week and 40-50 million viewers worldwide. Mr Steindorff said that the ‘Bahamas’ television series would have likewise been a major promotional push for the Bahamas and helped grow the country’s film industry.

“When we did ‘Las Vegas’ it was a major hit and helped the city at a time when it was struggling,” he said. “It helped so much they gave me the keys to the city. Resorts there were fighting to be on the show because it did so much for the economy. I also did a film called ‘Love in the time of cholera’ in Colombia and it was the first big international movie filmed there. They were wonderful to deal with; they laid out the red carpet and made me an honorary ambassador to the country,” said Mr Steindorff, stating that his experience in the Bahamas had been quite different.

“I have never experienced such resistance to what could be a great thing for the Bahamas; a TV series about the Bahamas. Everyone in Hollywood is thrilled about this and we have just got nothing but resistance from the Bahamas. With Baha Mar, this country is getting a lot of negative publicity in America. I have investors who want to do business in the Bahamas but there seems to be this anti-business sentiment,” said Mr Steindorff, who told Tribune Business that the government had initially been “gung ho” over the TV series project, having agreed to offer incentives but later backed-down.

“This was going to be a major boost for tourism and would have helped to promote the country. Also, it would have been great for the film industry. Every episode would have over 100 extras, people we would have been training on the crew creating a whole industry,” said Mr Steindorff. “I have investors putting up millions of dollars for this series and they are concerned about this situation with Baha Mar. It doesn’t create a healthy business environment. It only adds to conflict.

“I love the Bahamas and I think it is one of the most beautiful places in the world with some of the nicest people in the world. Right now, I have people in Hawaii pulling out the red carpet, Cuba of all places, places that want this show as well as Puerto Rico. They know what it will do for their people and the economy of the country.”

Comments

afficianado 9 years, 3 months ago

The government is stupid. They would spend $12million on a junkanoo carnival which was a waste of time, but not consider a TV series. shakes head

BaronInvest 9 years, 3 months ago

Just change the story. You can make it a comedy movie now starring Eddy Murphy as the Freddy, Martin Lawrence as the PM. Statements by the government of the last weeks provide so much content for a great comedy movie... Jim Carrey could be Sarkis getting a psychological evaluation from Freddy or be hunted on a jetsky infront of the Bahamar to take is residency away...

Ken Jeong from "The Hangover" could be the CCA CEO...

ObserverOfChaos 9 years, 3 months ago

Kiss all that "potential" income to the country goodbye fellow bahamians! Thank you dumb*ss PM and other cohorts! Ya'll are just plain stupid idiots with no regard for fellow countryman....one day you will pay for your sins...

MtlTrader 9 years, 3 months ago

"Mr Steindorff said. “I have investors putting up millions of dollars for this series and they are concerned about this situation with Baha Mar. It doesn’t create a healthy business environment. It only adds to conflict"

As a Canadian business person i have to concur with Mr. Steindorf, comments such as those made by Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, and the Prime Minister are harmful to entrepreneurs/investors. Do they believe that Nassau is a boom town for investors, they need only come to Nassau and their investment will be successful.....really.... A business person risks his money WITHOUT any guarantee whatsoever that he will be successful, if it were guaranteed everyone would be an entrepreneur/investor. Also, the 2 major (and only ) projects attractions in Nassau have now gone bankrupt....one being repossessed (Atlantis) by its Lender the other (Baha Mar) being liquidated....not having any bankruptcy protection laws that allow the investor to restructure its business is a reason to avoid such places for investments. Here in Canada any one including foreigners regularly criticize our leaders, without fear of repercussions.....disappointing....

proudloudandfnm 9 years, 3 months ago

Doesn't matter. I worked on Pirates of the Caribbean and they pulled out early because it is impossible to work with our government. They would never have lasted doing a TV series. They might have gotten one show done then pulled out....

asiseeit 9 years, 3 months ago

Also a big part of Hollywood NOT wanting to do business in the Bahamas is THEFT. Bahamians do not care about tomorrow, they gonna steal what they can today, that's just how smart we are!

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