The Caribbean has been getting a lot of attention lately, not just because the widely popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise carries the region’s name in its title. The Caribbean is stunning, exotic, and is comprised of more than 7,000 islands. That’s 7,000 different places to set down your sticks and start filming.

THE BAHAMAS

“The Bahamas is attractive to productions, due to its ideal weather year-round,” says film commissioner of the Bahamas Film Commission, Craig A. Woods. Additionally, it’s easy to get to, with direct flights from New York, Los Angeles, Boston and even Canada and the U.K. “The Bahamas boasts some of the world’s finest translucent water,” he adds, as well as “steamy mangrove swamps and jungle-like pine forest locations.” There is also plenty of colonial architecture, a holdover from their history as a British colony.

The final two installments of Pirates of the Caribbean, starring Johnny Depp, were shot in the area. Disney used the Bahamas Film Studios, at Gold Rock Creek on Grand Bahamas Island, for over 160 days, and it has been reported that the production for Pirates booked over 65,000 hotel room nights on the island. The Studio’s main attraction is its incredible open water tank facility. At 376,000 square feet, Collyer Tank is considered to be the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. And though the studio has yet to house any soundstages, Woods says that developers have plans to build some soon.

New Line Cinema’s After the Sunset, directed by Brett Ratner and starring Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek, as well as MGM’s Into the Blue, with Jessica Alba and Paul Walker, shot in various locations around Nassau. Casino Royale, the most recent James Bond film used locations on Nassau/Paradise Island, the Ocean Club, Buena Vista restaurant, Nassau West Shoreline, Albany House, and Adelaide Village.

In 2007, there were five feature films, or parts thereof, shot in the Bahamas. These included: Fool's Gold (Warner Bros.), Pink Panther II (New Line Cinema), The Sirens of Eleuthera (Good Looking Ink Films), Rain (Rain Films Ltd.) and an Italian independent comedy, Matrimonio alle Bahamas. “We also saw an increase in commercial production business coming to our islands,” says Woods. “We continue to be the islands of choice for both underwater and above water marine photography.

“The first film shot in January 2008 on location in Nassau was Academy Award-nominated director Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna,” says Woods. James Gandolfini, Kerry Washington, Derek Luke, and John Turtorro star in the film.
The Bahamas is a tax-free jurisdiction; there is no sales tax, excise tax, or capital gains tax. “We also have a film incentive in development,” says Woods. The incentive is essentially a cash rebate on the amount of Bahamian spend. Woods expects the measure to go before the Bahamas Parliament soon.

Because the Bahamas is a premiere tourist destination, the same infrastructure that supports the tourism industry can assist the film industry. “The Bahamas is a small country of some 330,000 citizens,” Woods comments. “The film/television production industry is growing rapidly. We can crew up to one full unit, thereafter we are stretched to the limit.”