More and more European countries have introduced tax incentives programs in recent years to draw in foreign film and TV productions. From the total amount that a production spends in a particular country, a certain percentage is refunded from government coffers.
Incentives programs help support local tradespeople and businesses, including those only tangentially related to film or TV production in industries such as transport, accommodation, or gastronomy. It can also help promote locations as destinations for tourism.
Central European countries like Hungary and Poland currently offer a 30 percent rebate on production spend in their countries, while Germany offers a 25 percent tax break. Slovakia recently upped their incentives program to offer a 33 percent rebate.
The Czech Republic, meanwhile, lags behind its competition with a 20 percent rebate that has not seen an increase since an incentives plan was first introduced in 2012.
The Czech Audiovisual Producers Association, however, is hoping to change that. In a letter to Czech Minister of Culture Martin Baxa, the Association has urged the country to increase its incentives to at least 25 percent in a new amendment to the country’s Audiovisual Act that will address some other issues.
The amendment was approved by Prime Minister Petr Fiala‘s government last month, and is now being discussed by the Czech Parliament. It also addresses a controversial per-project cap on rebates, and aims to increase the overall budget for film incentives. If passed in the coming months, the new amendment could take effect from next year.
“It is essential that the percentage of incentives in the Czech Republic be increased to at least 25 percent, and the cap significantly raised,” says Pavlína Žipková from the Czech Film Commission.
Film and TV production in the Czech Republic reached record-breaking numbers in 2022, with total spending hitting nearly CZK 15.5 billion ($650 million) according to data from the Czech Audiovisual Producers Association. That sharply declined in 2023, however, with the total spend falling 12 percent to about 13.5 billion ($580 million).
That decrease can only partially be blamed on last year’s writers’ and actors’ strikes. While two of the largest productions in Czechia were directly affected by the strikes, Interview with the Vampire managed to return to the country and wrap up production by the end of the year, and Foundation had already completed around half of its production by the time the strikes hit.
Foreign projects account for the vast majority of film and TV production in the Czech Republic, spending CZK 11.3 billion (about $500 million) in 2022 compared to just CZK 1.7 billion (around $70 million) from domestic projects. While domestic spending rose in 2023, it remains just a fraction of what comes in from international productions that support the local industry.
Under the Czech Republic’s current incentives plan, which caps rebates on larger projects, big-budget Hollywood films like Extraction II, which filmed in the country in the winter of 2021-22, have not returned. That leaves TV productions like Blade Runner 2099, which is currently filming in Prague’s Barrandov Studio through December, to pick up the slack.
More information about the Czech Republic’s current incentives program can be found at the new website of the Czech Film Commission.
Lead photo: behind the scenes on Interview with the Vampire in central Prague. Photo: AMC/Larry Horricks
