Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does a motion picture and television production business do?
It produces motion pictures, videos, television programmes, and commercials, taking projects from development through casting, scheduling, and shooting to finished footage.
2. What does film and television production cover?
Production covers feature films, television programmes and series, television commercials, and video content, up to the point of finished footage ready for post-production.
3. How is production different from post-production?
Production is the stage of planning, casting, and shooting that creates footage. Post-production, which covers editing and finishing that footage, is a separate, separately classified activity.
4. Who commissions film and television production in the UAE?
Streaming platforms, broadcasters, advertisers, and brands commission production, and the UAE also attracts international productions that shoot on location using local crew and infrastructure.
5. Why is the UAE attractive for film and television production?
The UAE offers diverse locations, strong infrastructure, a deep pool of international crew, and a clear permit and approval system that makes production schedules and budgets reliable.
How to Start a Motion Picture and Television Production Business with Meydan Free Zone
The credits at the end of a film are long for a reason: it can take a few hundred people to produce what one person watches alone. Every film, series, and commercial starts the same way, as a project that has to be developed, cast, scheduled, and shot. Motion picture, video and television programme production is the business of that work, taking a concept and turning it into finished footage ready for the next stage.
The Middle East media and entertainment market was valued at USD 44.16 billion in 2025 and is forecast to grow to USD 76.79 billion by 2031, according to Mordor Intelligence¹. That growth is fed by content: broadcasters, streaming platforms, and brands all need a constant supply of new material. The UAE has built itself into a production base for that demand, with a cinema sector that alone generated AED 800 million in 2024², and it draws international shoots with its locations, infrastructure, and a deep pool of crew and creative talent.
[blockCTACostCalculator]
Where Content Begins
Production is the first and most visible stage of the screen industry. It is where budgets are spent, crews are hired, and a script becomes footage.
Sources: Mordor Intelligence (2026); UAE Media Council via Arabian Business (2025).
Production runs on filming permits and content oversight. That structure is a feature: a clear, predictable permit and approval system is exactly what international productions look for when choosing where to shoot, because it makes schedules and budgets reliable.
The demand for production is broad and constant. Streaming platforms commission new titles continuously; broadcasters need programmes and commercials; and brands now produce film content as a core part of how they market. Beyond commissioned work, the UAE actively attracts international productions that bring their own budgets to shoot on location.
A production company can serve corporate and commercial clients as a dependable base while pursuing larger film and series work, and the content market's growth of close to ten percent a year¹ means the pipeline of projects keeps widening.
From feature films and television series to commercials and branded content, the UAE rewards production companies that can take a project from script to finished footage.
[blockCTANameCheck]
Who is this for?
- Film and television producers: Producers making feature films, television programmes, and series for cinemas, broadcasters, and streaming platforms.
- Commercial and branded content producers: Producers making television commercials and branded video content for advertisers and businesses.
- Video production companies: Companies producing corporate, digital, and social video content for a broad range of clients.
Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate a film and television production company in a market that international productions actively choose.
[blockCTABizActivityList]
5911.00 - Motion Picture, Video & Television Programme Production Activities
Under this activity, you are licensed to carry out the production of motion pictures, videos, television programmes, and television commercials. Production is the stage that takes a project from development through to finished footage, including the work of planning, casting, scheduling, and shooting. The activity is production specifically; it is distinct from post-production and from distribution, which are classified separately.
[blockCTATradeLicense]
There are clear boundaries on this activity. Most importantly, production is distinct from post-production, which covers editing and finishing, and from television broadcasting and the creation of a complete television channel, each classified separately.
The classification also places a range of related activities under their own codes: the duplication and reproduction of film and recorded media, the wholesale and retail of recorded media, sound recording, film processing for purposes outside the motion picture industry, the activities of personal theatrical and artistic agents, the renting of video media to the public, real-time closed captioning, and the own-account work of individual actors, directors, and technical specialists. The activity is the production of motion picture and programme content.
The line is precise. If your business produces motion pictures, videos, television programmes, or commercials, you are in. If you carry out post-production, broadcasting, or one of the separately classified related activities, you are not.
Third-Party Approval: Approval from the Ministry of Culture and Youth is required after the trade license is obtained.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance: This business activity is exempt from AML compliance requirements.
[blockCTAFawri]
Footnotes
¹ Mordor Intelligence. Middle East Media and Entertainment Market. Mordor Intelligence, 2026.
² UAE Media Council, reported by Arabian Business. UAE Cinema Box Office Hit $218m Last Year as E-Gaming Revenue Passed $408m. Arabian Business, March 2025.
