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| Singer Jill Scott and actor Lucian Msamati star in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Gareth Hughes/Joy Sapieka Unit Publicist |
'Ladies' Detective' film brings Tinsel Town to tiny Botswana
Alexander McCall Smith's hit book series set in Botswana is bringing big-screen money the African country.
from the August 1, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 4
How Botswana lured Hollywood
Because it did not have a film infrastructure in place, Botswana was expensive. South Africa and Namibia, on the other hand, both had established film industries. A slew of international productions – "Blood Diamond," "Beyond Borders," "10,000 B.C.," to name a few – have been shot in these countries; last year, South Africa's "Tsotsi" captured an Oscar and pushed the local film scene into the spotlight.
After crunching the numbers, Moore and the Weinstein Company, which is financing the film, decided they needed to shoot in South Africa – much, Moore says, to her disappointment.
But then Botswana's government stepped in.
"When we got wind of hearing that someone was interested in making the film, we got in touch with [McCall Smith], and then I got directly in contact with [Moore], and said we wanted to do it here," says Onkokame Kitso Mokaila, Botswana's minister of environment, wildlife, and tourism. "We saw an opportunity in this move to initiate a film industry."
After quickly moving the issue through the parliament and the cabinet, the government offered the filmmakers $5 million – enough to offset the costs of importing equipment and crew from South Africa.
It also made some demands: at least a third of the cast had to be from Botswana; the entire film had to be shot here – no running off to a studio back in the US. With one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, the government pointed out, the country was well able to provide this staff.
The filmmakers agreed to switch location.
"Film is all about make believe and we could shoot this anywhere," Moore says. "We could have gone to Arizona and shot in Arizona, or we could have gone to a place where they offered us economic subsidies, and that had similar light, and we would bring in the African costumes and we'd bring in the African people. But it would have been like ripping the heart out of the project."
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