Executive producers and owners of the Ukraine and Georgia based production house The Martini Shot talk about shooting in Georgia and reveal all pros and contras of the filming process here.
FGT: The Martini Shot was initially based in Ukraine, how did you decide to start a company in a totally different region? What was the main reasons you film in Georgia?
Nikita: Yes, initially we were just Ukraine based production house. But later on the Georgian office was started up. Why Georgia? There’re so many reasons for that actually. I will try to state the main ones.
First thing it’s because of its locations diversity. Here u have everything u could imagine: mountains, sea, roads, lakes, forest and fields. The country is not huge so everything is very close which definitely adds value to production process when within one project you have completely different locations – here we can find the huge diversity! Within half an hour from the main square and city rush you’re already enjoying amazing mountains view.
FGT: As for the locations – how is it going here with architecture in Georgia? Can you find everything needed here?
Nikita: Definitely! That’s exactly what I wanted to add. Architectural diversity was another one reason why we chose Georgia. Here we can find everything from European style buildings to Eastern or modern glass & stone architecture. And almost everything can be found in Tbilisi. Some historical things we usually shoot in Old Tbilisi and if there’re some modern buildings needed we just go downtown the city. Georgia gives us a whole bunch of advantages in terms of that.
FGT: Georgia has subtropical climate. Did you consider that fact before starting your shoots here?
Sveta: Yes, we did. Weather is another advantage here. Georgia is a really weather friendly country for filming. Almost all the year it’s sunny here. Indeed, this is not Brazil or Argentine and it does have winter. But overall the weather is very mild and even in November it still +20 here. And it’s almost no snow here. Also there’s an Adjara region that borders with Turkey. Even in January it’s +10-15 there with a lot of greenery.
Nikita: And as for the advantages I just want to add one more thing. The last, but not the least is that it’s pretty easy to solve all the administrative questions here. Like to obtain permissions to shoot or to bring some equipment in.
FGT: You say it’s pretty easy to solve the administrative questions, can u tell a bit more about that?
Sveta: Well, the government here is very friendly towards films crews. And sometimes it’s even easier to solve some problems here than in Ukraine, let alone the Europe. For instance we can get the permission to shoot on the street within 3-4 days while in Europe it takes around 2 weeks. And the same even if we need to shoot in some administrating location like harbor, underground or in the main airport. Almost without any limitations we can shoot everywhere, furthermore, on the daytime. We were slightly impressed how easy it works here.
FGT: And how the things go with equipment and technical crew in Georgia?
Nikita: We should not forget that Georgian film industry is pretty old. For the last 10 years it grew by leaps and bounds. Crews from all over the world came here to shoot feature films and local rentals bought all the needed equipment. Of course it goes without saying that the country is not that big and sometimes something is missing here. But so far we had no problems with the main cameras, lenses, light, grips, dolly, steadicams, cranes, etc. And if something is needed we can easily bring it from Ukraine. Usually it’s drone or some specific lenses if local rentals don’t have them. Recently we had one big automotive project and brought The Russian Arm crane system.
FGT: And what about custom-control, permissions and local authorities? Any problems about bringing extra equipment in?
Sveta: Honestly, I guess Georgia is one of the most well-disposed countries towards film industry. Authorities are always willing to go the halfway and we didn’t have any major problems with the temporary importation. We just sign all the necessary papers on behalf of the company, send them to the custom-control and then just wait for our equipment to be delivered. That’s it! And I must say that there were no delays so far.
FGT: OK, all the actors are they from Georgia too?
Nikita: It depends on the project. If we work for some local brand we can have Georgian casting. But if it’s for Western market then all the actors come from Ukraine. As Europeans and Georgians look rather different. Luckily, there’re a lot of regular low-cost flights from Kiev to Tbilisi. So it doesn’t influence the budget significantly.
Sveta: Also it’s not about the actors only. But it’s worth of mentioning that almost everybody can travel here without visas. It’s significantly simplifies the whole process. Comparing to Europe it’s much easier to come here.
FGT: How do you see Georgian film industry in future?
Sveta: Well. I guess Georgia has all the chances to become one of the top filmmaking European countries. It’s just a matter of a time so far. Modern equipment, experienced crews and a lot of other benefits and all that in one country. Needless to say about the well-known Georgian hospitality and friendliness!