Starter Kit. Idea 445 of 500. Cluster 23
Sinhala and Tamil dubbing and subtitling studios, selling to the streaming platforms and the film-makers of the world
The mechanism, from the book
The single largest unused asset in the country is sitting at home. Much of what keeps it there (childcare, safe transport, working hours) can be sold as a service, and the industries that would employ it can be built.
The first step
Record a short sample: one scene from a film dubbed into Sinhala and subtitled in Tamil, with clean sound and accurate timing. Find two voice artists and one subtitler, and agree a rate per finished minute. Send the sample to local channels, film-makers and the agencies that supply the streaming platforms, and ask what they pay per minute. The proof is one paid order.
- Who pays first
- A film-maker or channel that wants a film to reach Sinhala and Tamil speakers, and pays for each finished minute.
- What leaves today
- Voices and language skill sit unused; a studio sells them to the world's screens and is paid in foreign money.
Ask first
- Department of the Registrar of Companies. Ask how to register the studio so foreign clients can sign a contract with it.
- Inland Revenue Department. Ask how income from foreign clients for services should be declared.
Check before you spend
Confirm written permission from the film's owner for every job, a contract with each voice artist, and who owns the finished recordings.
Find out these three numbers
- What do platforms pay per finished minute of dubbing?
- What equipment does a quiet recording room need?
- How many minutes can one team finish in a day?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.