“The goal of this initiative is to promote training and creative collaboration among American and Middle Eastern television, broadcast media, and digital professionals to enhance the imagination of viewers — especially young people — in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,” - noted in the document.
$ 750 thousand was allocated from the US budget for the project. The list of key countries covered by the program includes Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and others.
In particular, Washington intends to organize exchange programs that will contribute to “value-oriented production of entertainment programs”, content development, as well as maintaining links between the television industries of the United States and the Middle East.
“The purpose of such an exchange is to promote American methods and standards of production, values and practices of American media enterprises, as well as strengthen bilateral industry ties between America and the region while helping to bring a pluralistic, value-oriented and high-quality future for industry in the MENA region in the context of a growing sales market content, ”the document says.
As emphasized, the State Department expects to take an active part in the activities of the project. At the same time, 40% of them will be devoted to the production of content for television. In particular, it is planned to hold seminars and master classes for beginning authors and producers working on scripts for children's programs, drama, comedy and other genres.
The result of this activity will be "full-fledged series plans with elaborate characters, series and seasonal storylines, as well as pilot releases of programs ready for production," the description says.
In March, it became known about the State Department’s plans to develop education in Iraq "according to the American model." According to the US Foreign Ministry, such training "plays an important role in influencing the new generation of leaders in the region." The program was supposed to spend up to $ 10 million.