Saudi actress Fatima Al Banawi as Samar in 'Al Shak', a Shahid Original, produced by Last Floor Productions. Last Floor Productions
Saudi actress Fatima Al Banawi as Samar in 'Al Shak', a Shahid Original, produced by Last Floor Productions. Last Floor Productions
Saudi actress Fatima Al Banawi as Samar in 'Al Shak', a Shahid Original, produced by Last Floor Productions. Last Floor Productions
Saudi actress Fatima Al Banawi as Samar in 'Al Shak', a Shahid Original, produced by Last Floor Productions. Last Floor Productions

'Everything happened through a screen': How three friends created an entire TV show while housebound


Samia Badih
  • English
  • Arabic

It did not take Nasri Atallah, Firas Abou Fakher and Daniel Habib long to decide to start their own production company.

The three friends, who have a shared passion for film and television, were already collaborating on a number of projects and so teaming up happened almost organically.  

Abou Fakher, one of the founders of Lebanese indie-pop band Mashrou’ Leila, is a composer and producer, while Habib is a writer and producer who teaches scriptwriting at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts in Beirut. Atallah is a published writer and producer, who also advises creatives on strategy. 

When those skillsets are combined, they create a formidable team.

"Last summer, just out of conversations [while] hanging out, we figured we wanted to do something together around film and television," Atallah tells The National from his home in London.

From left to right, Daniel Habib, Firas Abou Fakher and Nasri Atallah, the co-founders of Last Floor Productions. Last Floor Productions
From left to right, Daniel Habib, Firas Abou Fakher and Nasri Atallah, the co-founders of Last Floor Productions. Last Floor Productions

"As we had that idea, people started asking us to pitch stuff before we even told anyone we were thinking about it, so that is kind of where all of this started."

Abou Fakher, who is in Jdeideh, Lebanon, said things started to snowball after that.

“We had to keep up and we were forced into it much quicker than we thought."

But it is something the friends are very happy about, as that is how their new company, Last Floor Productions, was created. 

However, what none of them realised then was that their newly registered production company’s first show would be written, cast and entirely produced amid a pandemic. 

Al Shak (The Doubt), a Shahid Original series, is a 10-episode psychological thriller that tells the story of a Saudi woman who has to deal with a past trauma while in isolation. It stars Saudi actress Fatima Al Banawi and Syrian actor Qusai Khouli, and the first episode was released on June 14. 

While every show has its own process, Al Shak had a unique one, as the team had to consider the global crisis.

“Everything was happening through a computer screen," Abou Fakher explains. "It was incredibly strange, to be honest. We were Skyping when we were writing the script. We were on Zoom for hours a day, and then everybody would take their little part and work on it. We would talk to the team in Jeddah and talk to the director,” he says. 

They worked in small crews between Beirut, London and Jeddah, where the show is set. The key, Habib says, was for everyone in the team to be flexible and have the ability to don different hats. 

“The muscle and body of the show was us having to troubleshoot and be able to problem solve,” he says.

On set of 'Al Shak'. Last Floor Productions
On set of 'Al Shak'. Last Floor Productions

But, in a way, the show’s concept, being set during the pandemic, supported this and other aspects, such as the use of GoPro cameras and filming through a computer screen.  

They also decided to change the story’s setting.

“There are limitations, there are restrictions, but we try to find creative ways of telling stories within those frames,” Abou Fakher says. 

“We have the ability to tell the story in a lot of ways. What are the limits and what will get this show on air? This is a different model of thinking.”

This way of thinking has inspired them as they write the stories they want to tell moving forward. It is a model they say really works when you are part of a committed group. “You are in an industry where you are not making a small, intimate short film that is going to show at film festivals,” Atallah says.

“You are doing something that needs to work immediately and you are going to be ruthlessly judged if it does not, and it is going to affect your ability to work again, and your ability to hire 20, 30 people on every project.”

That encapsulates the state of today’s film and TV industry, which, globally, moves at an enormously fast pace. 

Now, Last Floor Productions is working with its team of writers on two new shows and two feature films. And they are always pitching fresh ideas. 

When asked about the kind of work they want to produce as a company, the three of them reply: "Good genre films and TV." 

Abou Fakher explains: “When you watch a good genre film, whether it is a horror film or action film, or gangster film, at the core of those films are very human stories.  

“Fiction genre is the foreground of our storytelling and then we start to fit in all the things that we are going through,” he says.

Habib adds: “We want to make content from the Arab world or about the Arab world that comes from this region one way or another, that we would be interested to watch." 

For them, the dichotomy that exists in the Arab world between commercial and auteur filmmaking leaves a huge gap for creators, such as themselves, to step in.

“With the rise of streaming, and the rise of platforms like Shahid, there's a good middle ground, where you are able to tell stories that are based in reality and have a message and a core, [but] still cater to a large viewing audience,” Abou Fakher says. 

That is exactly what the Last Floor Productions team is trying to achieve.

Ultimately, the three friends want their projects to not only be from and for the Arab world, but also appeal to an international audience. 

“I am location agnostic," Atallah says. "I would love to film in Jordan. I would love to film in Sudan. I’d love to film in Europe and tell stories of Arabs in Europe or in North America or Latin America.

“We are so agnostic as to where we tell these stories, as long as they are compelling and genre-driven and are a new form of storytelling about Arabs – we don’t mind where they are happening.”

Virtuzone GCC Sixes

Date and venue Friday and Saturday, ICC Academy, Dubai Sports City

Time Matches start at 9am

Groups

A Blighty Ducks, Darjeeling Colts, Darjeeling Social, Dubai Wombats; B Darjeeling Veterans, Kuwait Casuals, Loose Cannons, Savannah Lions; Awali Taverners, Darjeeling, Dromedary, Darjeeling Good Eggs

Milestones on the road to union

1970

October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar. 

December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.

1971

March 1:  Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.

July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.

July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.

August 6:  The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.

August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.

September 3: Qatar becomes independent.

November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.

November 29:  At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.

November 30: Despite  a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa. 

November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties

December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.

December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

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RESULTS

Men – semi-finals

57kg – Tak Chuen Suen (MAC) beat Phuong Xuan Nguyen (VIE) 29-28; Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Zakaria Eljamari (UAE) by points 30-27.

67kg – Mohammed Mardi (UAE) beat Huong The Nguyen (VIE) by points 30-27; Narin Wonglakhon (THA) v Mojtaba Taravati Aram (IRI) by points 29-28.

60kg – Yerkanat Ospan (KAZ) beat Amir Hosein Kaviani (IRI) 30-27; Long Doan Nguyen (VIE) beat Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) 29-28

63.5kg – Abil Galiyev (KAZ) beat Truong Cao Phat (VIE) 30-27; Nouredine Samir (UAE) beat Norapat Khundam (THA) RSC round 3.

71kg​​​​​​​ – Shaker Al Tekreeti (IRQ) beat Fawzi Baltagi (LBN) 30-27; Amine El Moatassime (UAE) beat Man Kongsib (THA) 29-28

81kg – Ilyass Hbibali (UAE) beat Alexandr Tsarikov (KAZ) 29-28; Khaled Tarraf (LBN) beat Mustafa Al Tekreeti (IRQ) 30-27

86kg​​​​​​​ – Ali Takaloo (IRI) beat Mohammed Al Qahtani (KSA) RSC round 1; Emil Umayev (KAZ) beat Ahmad Bahman (UAE) TKO round

Timeline

2012-2015

The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East

May 2017

The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts

September 2021

Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act

October 2021

Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence 

December 2024

Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group

May 2025

The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan

July 2025

The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan

August 2025

Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision

October 2025

Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange

November 2025

180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-finals, second leg:

Liverpool (0) v Barcelona (3), Tuesday, 11pm UAE

Game is on BeIN Sports

THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS

AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas

DevisionX – manufacturing

Event Gates – security and manufacturing

Farmdar – agriculture

Farmin – smart cities

Greener Crop – agriculture

Ipera.ai – space digitisation

Lune Technologies – fibre-optics

Monak – delivery

NutzenTech – environment

Nybl – machine learning

Occicor – shelf management

Olymon Solutions – smart automation

Pivony – user-generated data

PowerDev – energy big data

Sav – finance

Searover – renewables

Swftbox – delivery

Trade Capital Partners – FinTech

Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment

Workfam – employee engagement

if you go

The flights

Emirates offer flights to Buenos Aires from Dubai, via Rio De Janeiro from around Dh6,300. emirates.com

Seeing the games

Tangol sell experiences across South America and generally have good access to tickets for most of the big teams in Buenos Aires: Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Independiente. Prices from Dh550 and include pick up and drop off from your hotel in the city. tangol.com

 

Staying there

Tangol will pick up tourists from any hotel in Buenos Aires, but after the intensity of the game, the Faena makes for tranquil, upmarket accommodation. Doubles from Dh1,110. faena.com