Hollywood in Algarve ?

Portimão wants Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros. in the Algarve

Picture Portugal, the company who will manage the "cine-city" in the Algarve, is in contact with American studios like Fox, Paramount and Warner Brothers to try to attract investment for this project. "We are in process of contacting large studios to see if they want to invest," said to Lusa Carlos Mattos, owner of CDM Interactive, a company provider of equipment for filming and performances that has won two Oscars in Hollywood. Carlos Mattos, the project consultant for Picture Portugal has been using his contacts in the American film industry to "open doors" in the studios. The project developers expect that 51 percent of the capital to be private, and so it's estimated that some American studios will invest buying shares. The "cine-city" of Portimão, an investment of the local Council, has the advantages of reduced costs and good climate, being an opportunity with the new reality of digital cinema. "One of the problems that Portugal had in the past was the kind of equipment that was needed. In London, Paris or Berlin there were laboratories and editing studios. And so this was the reason why they went there to shoot as well, "said Carlos Mattos to Lusa. "Now that the technology has changed dramatically, with the high definition and 3D, this is the right opportunity for a project like what we are doing in Portimão", he emphasizes. The businessman talked to Lusa after a meeting with Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities Abroad, Antonio Braga, in Los Angeles earlier this week. Carlos Mattos maintains that the Government should take a more aggressive stand, offering studios similar conditions to those of other destinations such as the U.S. state of Louisiana and Canada. This, he says, should include tax breaks and subsidies, as well as licenses for use in filming the palaces, castles and natural sceneries. "Portugal is a Southern California in Europe, and with some facilities and the ability to provide the latest equipment, we hope to attract production," he says. But, points out, the Northern Americans, "as entrepreneurs, are materialistic and will want to objective benefits. "Everyone likes Portugal and love going there to play golf, but in the end two and two must be five and they have to see incentives to film there," he says. The businessman is also trying to attract funding from the Portuguese community in the United States to invest in promoting Portugal as an international film destination. The Portuguese want to see two types of funds created - for the post-production and promotion ("print and advertising"). "A film can cost five million dollars to make, but we need to spend more than five million dollars to promote it and this fund is very important for the success of any project," he says. Carlos Mattos was honored in 2008 with Innovative Entrepreneurship Award, by the business association COTEC. Resident in the United States for 38 years was involved in blockbusters like "Titanic", the first two sequences of "The Terminator" and "True Lies". Has been working as well with a production company, Generation Entertainment. source: http://www.observatoriodoalgarve.com