BY MARIA ZUPPELLO Film commissions are government organizations (national, regional and local) set up to attract the production of movies, TV programs and commercials to their respective locations. They offer services such as scouting locations and assistance cutting through local bureaucracies. In addition, some provide hard economic incentives, such as tax rebates, hotel discounts and even actual cash. The first film commissions were created in the U.S. more then 50 years ago. Now they are commonplace, especially in Canada and Europe. In March 2007, a new network, the European Film Commission Network (EuFCN) was set up, uniting 64 national film commissions from more than 18 countries. Austrian Arie Bohrer of Vienna’s Location Austria — part of the country’s government-backed film commission — was elected president of the network. The aim is to set new standards for the positioning of Europe’s film commissions, to position them into a more international market, and to promote the exchange of information between members. In an audiovisual industry expected to grow worldwide to $105 billion over the next three years, Europe has become a welcoming locale for filming. This has happened despite the weak dollar, which discourages U.S. production and, at the same time, makes the U.S. a more economically attractive venue for European production. VideoAge reviewed a selection of key film commissions around Europe. CZECH REPUBLIC The Czech Film Commission (http://www.filmcommission.cz) has worked, since 2004, as part of the Czech Film Center, partly funded by the Czech Ministry of Culture, and was created in September 2002 to promote Czech film abroad Since 1989, the Czech Republic, whose movie industry annually attracts $83 million from abroad, has become renowned for its wide variety of locations, well-equipped studio facilities and lower costs of production, wages and taxes. Barrandov Studios in Prague boasts some of the country’s most important facilities, bringing in by far the biggest share of moviemaking revenue, valued at roughly $300 million annually. Barrandov’s new sound stages were completed in 2006, and filmmakers have since come in droves. Much of the most recent James Bond movie Casino Royale was shot on Barrandov’s sound stages. Earlier this year, Barrandov Studios signed a contract to host Paramount’s $170 million GI Joe , one of the most expensive films ever in the Czech studio’s history, falling between the estimated $150 million Casino Royaleand the $180 million Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe . But other Eastern European countries are siphoning off business from the Czech Republic (foreign spend dropped 65-70 percent between 2002 and 2007) with incentives and tax breaks. Bulgaria is clearly star-struck, bending over backward to promote its massive Boyana studio, a holdover from the Cold War that nevertheless beat out Prague for The Black Dahlia, with Bulgaria standing in for 1940s Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Hungary is competing with hefty tax incentives for foreigners that Prague film people have been trying unsuccessfully to wring out of the Czech government for years. FRANCE Regional and local commissions have flowered nationwide. One, Ile de France, offered $22.9 million last year to French and foreign productions shooting 50 percent in the Paris region. France counts on new factors in its hope to acquire shoots: an impressive film commission infrastructure, Film France ( h t t p : / / www. f i l m f r a n c e . n e t ) , globalization, and a leap in computergenerated imagery and visual effects abilities. Film France’s website offers 124 abbeys and 101 battlements, ordered by century, in which to film. GERMANY Germany’s film commissions (http://www.location-germany.de) are a network of 10 regional commissions, which reproduce the same federal structure of the country. Germany has recently made headlines because of Valkyrie , a movie in which Tom Cruise plays a true-life German World War II hero. Valkyrieis considered the country’s most relevant movie filmed there in the last 12 months. The German government issued $6.5 million in subsidies for the project, hoping to diminish the furor over the country’s initial refusal to allow filming at a memorial site located within the Defense Ministry complex. Valkyrie’s budget has been estimated at $80 million, with about two-thirds of that being earmarked for filming in Germany. The German government has also resolved to provide $94 million in aid annually for the production of movies in Germany. The intent is to provide support for film production over a period of three years. The German government will reimburse each production company in Germany that produces a film and applies for assistance for costs incurred while producing the film in Germany. The measure is not intended to just benefit large productions. Companies with smaller and mid-sized projects with budgets of $1.5 million or more for feature films can also apply for partial reimbursement of production costs. IRELAND One of the fastest growing film commissions is the Northern Ireland Screen (http://www.northernirelandscreen.co.uk), with many areas of activity, including funding, locations, services, facilities, exhibition, audience development, education and business support. Northern Ireland Screen (NIS) is funded by Invest Northern Ireland, the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure, and the U.K. Film Council, and is delegated by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to administer lottery funding in Northern Ireland. Since 1997, 36 movies have been filmed there. Northern Ireland Screen’s greatest asset for attracting foreign productions is the Paint Hall studio. Five minutes from Belfast, the studio was constructed in the 1970s and originally used to paint ships in climate-controlled conditions. It was occupied last year by Walden Media/Playtone for the production of their $50 million fantasy movie City of Ember with Tim Robbins, the most expensive movie ever to shoot in Ulster. Set designer Martin Laing stated, “We went to Romania, Prague and Germany trying to find a very large place where we could build an entire city. That brought us to the studio in Belfast. It has allowed us to build the city we wanted.” NIS contributed £800,000 ($1.6 million) toward the budget, its maximum grant. That proved an astute investment. City of Ember spent $18.2 million in the city, employed a local crew and left behind a functioning film studio where previously there was just an empty shell. Northern Ireland Screen bought back the rigging and took a three-year lease on the building. It’s offering the studio for free, along with investments of up to $1 million, to any production that promises to spend at least $4 million in the province. Expenditure also qualifies for the U.K. tax credit, which can knock another 2025 percent off the cost. In total, NIS has roughly $24 million a year to spend. ITALY The Italian Association of Film Commissions was established in 2003. It works with the Italian Film Commission based in Los Angeles, a division of the Italian Trade Commission. Up until now, it has connected 16 film commissions all across the country. “We mainly work for the Italian audiovisual industry, mostly television,” said Andrea Rocco, president of the Italian Association of Film Commissions. “In the last two years American production has dropped.” Nevertheless, some producers are leaving Italy in favor of other locales, like Bulgaria. Many factors can explain the shift. Despite ongoing discussions between film industry representatives and the Italian government, there is no tax shelter legislation similar to that on offer in many other countries. Plus, Italy has relatively high costs of production compared to other European locations, particularly the emerging Eastern European centers. The country’s film production spend in 2007 was $496 million — much less than the respective $1.53 billion and $1 billion in France and Germany, where tax credits drive vibrant industries. SPAIN The Spain Film Commission (http://www.spainfilmcommission.org) was established on March 26, 2001 and has its premises at the Instituto de Ciencias y Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA). The promotion of Spain as a location for productions is growing, thanks to three new studios. Ciudad de la Luz studio, a $442.5 million juggernaut in Cadiz, Alicante, was launched in 2005 in the hopes of bringing more Hollywood coin to Iberia. Some of the films made at the complex were the $118 million Astérix and the Olympic Games and JeanJacques Annaud’s $53 million comedy His Majesty Minor . Even Bollywood producers visited the complex last spring for new business. Backed by Valencia’s regional government, Ciudad will be totally completed by 2009. But Ciudad could face growing competition from Madrid. In Loeches, a small town northeast of the capital city, a new complex covering 49 acres called Ciudad del Audiovisual will host production facilities, offices, soundstages, a film school, hotels and a shopping mall. A private-sector project, it’s scheduled to open in 2011. And in the Basque town of Oiartzun, near San Sebastian, construction began last September on Zinealdea, an 893,400-square-foot production center funded with public and private money. Zinealdea should be ready mid-2009. The complex’s three buildings will host film and TV studios, production services, offices, a film school, a film commission and a leisure area. V I D E O • A G E OC T O B E R 2 0 0 8 18 Europe’s Film Commissions Filmed Ent. Is More Than Just Big Biz For Europe (Continued on Page 64)
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