The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) has brought together several relevant government agencies in a one-stop shop that offers a variety services to the creatives.
This will in effect create a single document with multiple information to reduce bureaucracy, in addition to the already digitized services.
Speaking during engagement with Film Industry Stakeholders in Kirinyaga County, the Ag. KFCB Chief Executive Officer Pascal Opiyo, said through Creatives in Arts and Film Literacy (CAFIL) program that is meant to empower creatives and artists in their individual sector by giving them information that they need, they have brought together 7 relevant government agencies to speak to the creatives on regulation within the individual sector.
“The intention is that even though our services are online, if you want to get our filming lessons, you’ll get it online on any gadget that you have, we still think that personal interactions with content creators is very good, because there’s a lot of questions that they ask here whose answers they may not necessarily get online,” said Opiyo.
Consequently, CAFIL program has brought on board stakeholders including the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority to deal with the use of drones, Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service on filming in the parks, the Immigration Department because of foreign filmmakers, Office of the Data Protection Commissioner to deal with facial identity and displaying of minors without consent, Kenya Revenue Authority to assist creatives in the process of importing equipment and Kenya Copyright Board on issues of music but specifically the issues of copyright.
Essentially, the program will deal with all concerns raised and ensure that our creatives have all the information that they need, so that they are able to monetize their content.
“The key thing here is to enable our creatives monetize their content. Why is Nollywood making so much money?” posed Opiyo, adding that that creatives in Kenya are equally good.
On licensing, the Ag. CEO revealed that the system had been eased and made available online, hence there was no more need to travel to KFCB offices.
Opiyo further said KFCB Board was in the final stages of reviewing the existing Film charges.
“We don’t make the law that create the charges. It’s done through stakeholder engagement and eventually approved by Parliament. We have a bill in parliament at the very last stage. Once signed into law, the charges will reduce drastically by between 15 to 30% for the local film agents and film makers,” he noted
To further reduce expenditure by creatives, KFCB has initiated “Self-classification” mode. The board may not have capability to be able to rate and classify all content that comes from all the platforms that are available. Self-classification involves training the creatives as local content creators on KFCB rating systems so that they know how to self-classify.
“The moment you know how to self-rate what you produce, it means you do not need to bring it to us. We will just be playing the role of reviewing what you’ve done to ensure that you are following the thematic areas that you will have trained you on,” the Ag. CEO noted.
Accordingly, this will substantially cut the time that it takes to produce content and upload it to the public, cutting down the amount of money spent because creatives will not be paying the Board to rate their content.
Opiyo acknowledged the increase in local content based on last year record, where they issued about 5,197 filming licenses, while this year they have surpassed it attributing the same to seamless application procedure.
“The reason why this has increased is because we no longer require local filmmakers to go through local agents to register, the numbers are growing and we hope that it will also follow with talents and skills so that our creative industry can grow,” he said.
Opiyo said the government has been working very closely with both Meta and TikTok at the highest level to ensure that they create a conducive environment in Kenya that allows our local content producers to also monetize their content.
By Mutai Kipngetich
