Hollywood film industry to return to Israel?
New government initiative will encourage Hollywood production companies to film in Jewish state by providing war and terrorism insurance coverage
A representative of a large Hollywood production company met recently with officials from the Finance Ministry and the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, in hope of reaching an arrangement that would bring back American filmmakers to the Jewish state.
"We want to produce films in Israel, but we’re having trouble finding an insurance company that would agree to provide coverage against war and terror risks," he told them.
Taking the plea to heart, the relevant ministries decided to launch a new insurance plan that would provide the coveted coverage, which will be marketed to international production studios.
About 20 movies were filmed in Israel in the 1980s, bringing the likes of Al Pacino, Chuck Norris and Brook Shields to work on the holy land. "Rambo 3", "The Delta Force" and "Sahara" were shot in Israel, among many others. While international insurance companies refuse to provide war and terrorism risk coverage, the Israeli government did provide it, thus encouraging the industry boom.
Anticipating that the return of Hollywood would bring with it countless new jobs, the accountant general has put as much as $50 million at the Inbal Insurance Company's disposal. The firm will therefore become the policy vendor, while the State will be the one to provide the coverage.
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