Chris O'Hearn - DMA Media General Manager, Middle East

DMA Media, TwoFour54's consulting partner, has welcomed TwoFour54's vision of creating a regional production hub to encourage local talent and bring new thinking in the entertainment industry.

"The issue in the region is not a lack of talented people, but a lack of talent development and of a flexible, accessible pool of talented people and that has a direct impact on efficiency and costs for the best productions.
There are not enough local productions in the region that are originally created and produced by local staff," said Chris O'Hearn, DMA Media General Manager Middle East. "The region will develop its own voice and style in the world only if it provides an environment where local creative talent can flourish."

DMA Media has been closely involved in the TwoFour54 project since its original conception, with a brief to ensure that the Abu Dhabi based media zone adheres to international standards for the region and beyond.

The company worked closely with TwoFour54 on different areas including initial planning and analysis, media technology specification, vendor selection and negotiation, architectural design, resource management systems, workflows and commercial research and planning.

The coming phase of TwoFour54 will see DMA's contribution in installing booking and invoicing systems for the studios.

"A key element of the approach to TwoFour54 has been to take a long term view of the development of creative industries in the Middle East region and to foster an environment that reflects the commercial imperatives of world class content production. That means wide-ranging changes in practice, facilities, regulation and education systems. With these initiatives in place, TwoFour54 will make a key contribution to addressing the lack of content creation in the region," said O'Hearn.