Saudi Arabia studio Telfaz11 strikes nine-project production deal with Neom

NEOM and TELFAZ11 have announced a partnership that will see the creation of up to nine TV and film productions over the next three years.

The collaboration between NEOM and TELFAZ11 will accelerate the growth of NEOM’s media industries ecosystem, including two feature films and one series currently in development under the new arrangement.

Yesterday's (May 1) announcement follows a recent slew of high profile TELFAZ11 successes, including the debut of its latest theatrical feature film Sattar, which has become the highest grossing Saudi film of all time.

In addition to productions, TELFAZ11 also plans to establish a physical presence at NEOM by opening offices this year in NEOM’s media hub. The new office will complement the TELFAZ11’s existing offices in Riyadh and Dubai. NEOM will also leverage TELFAZ11’s new NEOM offices to diversify its industry learning activities and multi-disciplinary talent development programs, creating a talent pool across the value chain and career pathways for graduates.

Wayne Borg, managing director of Media Industries, Entertainment, and Culture at NEOM, said: “Our mission is to create a new world-class media hub at NEOM, one that supports the region’s industry to compete and succeed globally. This partnership with TELFAZ11 complements and accelerates. This partnership, coupled with our evolving infrastructure, crew depth, industry learning programs, and highly competitive incentive scheme shows we are well on our way to achieving these goals.”

Alaa Faden, CEO and co-founder of TELFAZ11 added: "We couldn’t be more honored to be at the center of NEOM’s next-generation media and entertainment ecosystem. TELFAZ11 has consistently operated on the leading edge of innovation, from launching the first Netflix partnership in the region to leveraging our powerful social media presence. And this new partnership with NEOM is yet another milestone in that effort.”

NEOM has provided the backdrop for 30 productions in the last 18 months, including Rupert Wyatt’s Desert Warrior, starring Anthony Mackie and Sir Ben Kingsley; Dunki directed by Rajkumar Hirani and starring Shahrukh Khan; local acclaimed Saudi feature Within Sand directed by Moe Alatawi; the first regional reality TV show Million Dollar Island; and Rise of The Witches, the region’s biggest-ever budget TV show. MBC’s Exceptional, a 200-episode-per-year TV drama series, is set to begin shooting in July.