Since there is some press interest in the story of the Malta Film Awards and its expenditure on the ceremony’s host, here are my views as a previous government culture executive.
It’s not complicated really, and these sub-literate barbarians have no idea what they are doing, except for using the culture industries as their private entertainment scene. There is no good reason or marketing sense to pay ย120,000 to a foreign actor to host your film awards in which you give literally nothing to the local awardees.
Hosting popular artists and actors is not a means to get investments or business, it only serves to expand your reach with retail clients. This is why it makes sense to host, for example, a popular literary author at a book fair or festival, contrary to paying a famous host for an award ceremony. I’m absolutely sure, that no single person watched a single film that was (supposedly) awarded at the Film Awards simply because there was David Walliams hosting it. And no film producer in the world saw David Walliams at the Malta Film Awards and said, “Oh sure, since David Walliams is there, I am going to produce my film there – brilliant idea”.
What a film producer would typically do is consult with experts regarding various location options, and Malta stands out due to its tax incentives. It doesn’t stand out with the accounts team because we pay foreign actors to serve as jesters and entertainment providers for our ministers.
By the way, paying the equivalent sum paid to David Walliams in Facebook and Instagram adverts would have had a million times better effect in terms of viewership for the award ceremony – and I am not exaggerating.
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