NEOM Media production hub and the kingdom’s Hakawati Entertainment have forged a strategic partnership to produce up to nine feature films and establish a new on-site services unit “supported by experienced Hollywood-level talent and significant financial investments,” they said in a statement.

Hakawati Entertainment is a production and literary management company launched in 2020 by a team of Saudi entrepreneurs and industry experts. The company’s chairman is Redha Alhaider who is a former president of the General Commission of Audiovisual Media (GCAM) – which is the Saudi’s media industry’s regulatory body. He is flanked by CEO Osama AlKhurayji, a prominent director and creative producer, and COO Sarah Bin Obaid, an entertainment industry executive who is a UCLA grad.

Hakawati has produced several local Saudi films and TV series including “Ureem,” a show about a Saudi ride-hailing service; “Khurais,” in which five friends who launch an online radio station; and “Cut,” featuring four young Saudi men who travel to Hollywood to pursue their dream of becoming film directors.

Read the full story at Variety