MBC launches collaboration between MENA and Hollywood

Middle Eastern broadcaster MBC Group has launched an initiative designed to build closer working ties between Hollywood and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The Creative Communities Collaboration (CCC) is a public-private association of global media and entertainment executives set up in LA by MBC in partnership with the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (USC).

The collaboration aims to strengthen ties and partnerships between the MENA region and Hollywood.

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The new programme unites partnership between leading pay-TV MBC Group with USC and selected Hollywood film and TV experts, senior US government officials, top content industry players, scholars and MBC Group board members.

MBC Group TV director Ali Jaber said: “These cross-cultural initiatives are crucial to us, particularly in this current media climate.

“We want to provide the opportunity for both US and MENA TV production entities to discover and work with one another’s talent and provide opportunities for younger generations that were not previously available.

“We believe in the power of positive storytelling and the effect it has on communities in the Arab world. Through the Creative Communities Collaboration, we aspire to provide new opportunities for inspirational stories to come to life via the medium of television.”

Since 2016, MBC Group has partnered with the private media school and a number of Hollywood executives and showrunners to organise high-level entertainment industry gatherings and professional exchange programmes on the role of media in promoting tolerance through positive storytelling in the Arab world.

One of the success stories from this project has been the Middle East Media Initiative (MEMI), a State Department-funded professional training programme produced by USC aimed at increasing the capacity and standards of the Arab world’s creative talents and original storytelling.

The initiative stems from a shared understanding among the partners that television is a powerful tool that connects with audiences through compelling characters and meaningful storylines. Programmatic aspects include advanced professional training for writers, showrunners and TV executives.

MBC Group is seeking creative partners to produce world-class content based on stories from the region with international appeal and supporting future generations to build modern, globally-engaged societies.

Hollywood figures who have so far worked alongside MBC on the programme so far include David Franzoni, writer for Gladiator, King Arthur and Amistad and David Isaacs, writer and producer on TV shows including The Simpsons, M*A*S*H, Cheers and Frasier.

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