Sheikh Mohammed Youssef El Khereiji and 3SIX9 Studios Team on How New Saudi Outfit With Hollywood Ties Aims to ‘Appeal to Audiences Around the World’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Reflecting Saudi Arabia’s ambitions as a film industry player, a new deep-pocketed outfit called 3SIX9 Studios launched recently from the Cannes Film Festival with the stated goal of becoming a bridge between Hollywood and Saudi.
Based in Jeddah, with outposts in London, New York and L.A., 3SIX9 Studios is co-founded by actor and producer Daya Fernández, who serves as CEO; Inga V. Smith, who is a former VP of production at Paramount and is the company’s president; “Prison Break” star Amaury Nolasco; and Saudi businessman Sheikh Mohammed Youssef El Khereiji, chairman of Global Group of Companies, who serves as the studios’ chairman.
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Sheikh Mohammed is a billionaire who wears many hats, including the CEO of media advertising and investment entity Engineer Holding Group (EHG). He has been an investor in Hollywood movies, as well as the Broadway production of “Finding Neverland.”
Projects in the 3SIX9 Studios pipeline include “Bunny Run,” an action comedy written by Jayson Rothwell (“Polar”) set to shoot in Saudi Arabia in the fall; “Scotland Yank,” described as “a comedic contemporary reimagining of Sherlock Holmes” written by Mitch Klebanoff (“Dancing Ninja,” “The Journey”) that will be filmed in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia; “Patrol,” an action-horror film in the vein of “Predator”; and “No Night So Long: Double Clutch,” a TV series created by director Ilya Naishuller (“Nobody”) and Will Stewart.
Below, Variety speaks with the 3SIX9 Studios team about their goal of helping to foster a film industry in Saudi by becoming a conduit for Hollywood productions that the kingdom is trying to lure with generous production incentives.
What prompted you to launch 3SIX9 Studios?
Sheikh Mohammed Youssef El Khereiji: I’ve been coming to Cannes and attending the film festival for over 30 years. And it was always fun. More recently, after being involved with the Red Sea Film Festival and the Saudi Film Commission, and seeing the development of what’s happening in Saudi and having friends like Daya, Amaury and so on, I thought it’s time to concretize that part of the enjoyment into a real business. 3SIX9 is not just a production company, it’s really a platform under Daya’s management. It’s a platform to connect different industries within the industry, different people, different opportunities within the kingdom and the Middle East. It’s a way to be able to take advantage of the growth.
How did you all connect?
Daya Fernández: Inga brought me a slate of three or four movies that were very commercially-driven Hollywood projects. And I thought, “This is a great idea.” We already have interest from people to distribute them even without the cast because the material is good. Then we met with Sheik Mohammed last year at the Cannes Film Festival, mainly to learn what was happening in Saudi. While hearing about their production incentives, we thought they were a great opportunity. It was then that Sheik Mohammed said “No, I see this. I want to be part of this, and I want to make it bigger.”
Inga V. Smith: Even since our Cannes announcement, I’ve already started receiving emails from former heads of studios saying, “I have a project, we were just thinking of taking advantage of the tax rebate by shooting in Saudi but didn’t know how to go about it.”
What is the main goal of 3SIX9 Studios?
Mohammed: I’m a businessman, so this is a business like many of my other business ventures. What I do is identify businesses that are outside and see how I can import them into Saudi Arabia and expand them and create value for them within Saudi. It’s looking at any outside business and saying, “OK, how can it benefit from what is happening in Saudi Arabia and how can Saudi Arabia benefit from what’s coming?” You have a lot of people that want to come to Saudi today and want to invest, but don’t know how. So now can we bridge that gap by saying, “OK, you would like to come to Saudi Arabia? We have a platform that can help you come to Saudi, perform in Saudi, invest in Saudi.”
Why don’t your projects have Saudi narratives?
Fernández: They appeal to audiences around the world, which is interesting because that’s also what Saudis want. They want to create content that doesn’t just appeal to the Middle East and, in the process, shape up their below-the-line workforce. We are giving them an opportunity to participate in projects that are from Hollywood, Bollywood, from different parts of the world, just like any other studio would do.
Can these Hollywood projects also serve as vehicles to launch Saudi talents?
Mohammed: Sure. It’s also good for Saudi to be able to say, “You can come and do anything, we have the set up.” And for me personally, as a Saudi, this is all very interesting. Why is this dear to my heart? Because I see a lot of local actors, local talents. All they want is the opportunity and the possibility to learn. So it’s very dear to me to be able to say, “OK, in two, three, four, five, six years, we will have a Saudi actor who’s nominated at the Oscars,” or other awards.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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