The last nomination of Javier Bardem for the Oscar for best actor it was for Being the Ricardosa film in which the performer born in Gran Canaria shares the spotlight with Nicole Kidman. Penelope Cruzanother of the great names of national cinema, premiered last year The immensityItalian film directed by Emanuele Crialese which was part of the official competition section of the Venice Festival. They are two titles that share, beyond good reviews and the Spanish leadership, the same visual and special effects studio: 22Dogs. A company that is already among the most important in its sector within the global film industry and whose name and logo appear in the credits of countless films and television series: Florida Man, the netflix series starring the Venezuelan Edgar Ramirez; The man against the bee, also from netflix and with Rowan Atkinson as producer, scriptwriter and main actor; the horror film It Follows; the dark and disturbing nightcrawlerwith Jake Gyllenhaal as headliner… The special effects of all these titles were made by the creators of 22Dogs. And why is this information about movies and series in the Economy section? Because The multinational with offices in Milan, Italy, and Los Angeles, in the United States, has decided to open a third office in Spain. More specifically in the Canary Islandswhose economy thus takes a new step on the steep path towards diversification.
22Dogs lands on the Islands, in Tenerife to be more precise, hand in hand with the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC), which in recent years has stepped on the accelerator to promote the tax advantages offered by the low-tax area of the Archipelago among companies in the audiovisual, videogames and technology fields. In fact, 22Dogs is the last but not the only renowned firm in the field of special effects that has decided on the Autonomous Community to continue growing. Here are also IRO Pictureswho has worked for productions such as the house of the dragonfrom HBO Max, Boba Fett’s book or the well-known John Wick saga – which has returned to Keanu Reeves to stardom, and Free Your Mind, which has done the same for national titles such as full throttle either Father there is only one.
The multinational has worked for titles such as ‘Jobs’, ‘It Follows’, ‘Florida Man’ or ‘L’immesità’
However, the most relevant economically, beyond even the creation of jobs or the contribution to the regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP)is that this growing appeal that the Islands arouse among visual effects firms has a lot to do with, also, the growing appeal that they arouse in the subsectors of animation, video games and filming. Little by little, the Canary Islands have been sewing a business ecosystem around these branches of the audiovisual industry, a still small but constantly growing ecosystem that represents one of the strongest advances in pursuit of the long-awaited diversification of the economy. It is not for nothing that these are subsectors or activities that are characterized by creating stable jobs, qualified – and in constant recycling and updating – and well paid, certainly better paid than the bulk of the jobs in the hotel business. It is enough to see the professional profiles that 22Dogs is looking for when landing in Tenerife to notice the added value of jobs in the field of visual effects.
The studio is going to recruit a person responsible for the operation of the tools for its new delegation in the Archipelago, the software and the workflows used in their VFX studios in Milan and Tenerife; a visual effects producer in charge of supervising the projects; two 3D artists; a composition supervisor for work in 2D –two dimensions–; and two other experts in visual effects for movies, series and advertising. And this, of course, just to start. A look at the multinational’s job offers for its new headquarters in the Canary Islands –can be found on its website or, for example, on its Instagram account– It is enough to note the high qualification required and, therefore, the quality of the job.
Training
The push of this new audiovisual, animation and videogame industry has made it possible for the first training cycles to be taught on the Islands. The Integrated Vocational Training Center (CIFP) Cesar Manrique, located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is already at the forefront. It began to offer six years ago the Superior cycle of 3D animation, games and interactive environments. And in that short period It has become a benchmark in the matter not only at a national level, but even at a European level.
22Dogs is looking for the necessary profiles for landing in the Archipelago
So the Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) is contributing, perhaps as never before, to the birth of a new activity, or rather of a new audiovisual ecosystem, in which Research, Development and innovation (R+D+i) have great weight. And notably the ZEC, which is one of the main incentives of the REF together with the Reserve for Investments in the Canary Islands, the RIC. It must be taken into account that Firms that operate under the umbrella of the ZEC may be taxed in Corporate Tax at a hyper-reduced rate of 4% for the activity that they carry out effectively in the region. A very low tax effort that, unlike what tax havens offer, is not only legal, but also has the protection of the EU. Among other things because this low taxation is not free, but is subject to compliance with a series of investment requirements and, above all, job creation. That is what the REF is about, a tool to help the socioeconomic development of an island territory thousands of kilometers from continental Europe. How else could the Canary Islands compete with other regions to win the keen from companies like 22Dogs?
