2015 has been quite a year for most of us, Luke Skywalker, Ash and Blofeld have returned to the screens, we’ve seen a record number of scripted TV shows and, just this month, the world’s first reusable rockets have made it to the edge of our atmosphere and back. In the world of advertising, The Martin Agency of Richmond, Va. together with their clients Geico proved once and for all that length doesn’t matter (especially in the digital age) with a genius set of ads. What’s not to like?

Closer to home, Malta has seen a number of new initiatives supporting the local Creative and Cultural Sector (CCS), a very active cultural programme, and the launch of the Strategy 2020 that aims to develop the CCS into an even larger part of the Maltese economy.

For Shadeena, 2015 has been a flurry of fun activity. A couple of months ago someone mentioned they hadn’t seen much Shadeena work during this year. In a sense that’s true, 2015 has seen a lot of behind the scenes work from this young company. It’s been a transitional period during which Shadeena is being transformed from a small one-man operation, to a business focused on sustainable growth and new investments.

We’ve served clients from Switzerland, Italy, France, the USA and Malta, and successfully negotiated international, commercial distribution for a number of our products. We’ve also been busy developing new content and investing in a number of projects such as the Invisible Sculpture and Dottoressa Whatever (a comedy based on the confusing and nerve wrecking legal world of this island we call home), two projects partially funded by the Arts Council Malta that we’ll get to market in 2016.

Our team has been busy putting together resources and financing for some major co-productions that we hope to announce in the coming months, projects that will see us working with talents from Latin America, Malta and Scotland among and other countries.

For me, the highlight of this year was welcoming Samuel Sultana and Francesca Schembri to the Shadeena family as assistant producer and editor respectively.

This year we’ve learnt the importance of understanding the numbers, of planning ahead and of being able to face new challenges; and that’s exactly what we’re working on and what we offer our clients and colleagues. Now, more than ever, film and audio-visual productions are not about the gadgets and the fancy equipment (we all have those), they are about the content, message and the kind of future proofing that comes from well thought-out planning.

Shadeena is growing and evolving as it continues to navigate the ever-changing landscape that is the maturing Creative and Cultural Sector. In the coming years we will be investing heavily in IP management, financing structures and international networking, programmes that we hope will be embraced by the Maltese CCS, and that we can use to not only develop our own projects, but those of other Maltese talents as well.

Why am I writing this today? I’m writing because 2015 has been one hell of a year, and I am thankful for being surrounded by amazing colleagues and clients and to have had the opportunity to share this journey with you all.

I’m writing to thank our colleagues who work tirelessly to generate support and growth within the CCS and to thank our clients for trusting us with their campaigns and messages.

I’m writing this, because I want to wish you all a great end to 2015 and an even better start to 2016. I look forward to crossing paths again very soon.