The Czech government has approved an uplift to the country’s production incentive for feature films and series and has also introduced a brand no
The Czech government has approved an uplift to the country’s production incentive for feature films and series and has also introduced a brand novel rebate for animation, VFX and post-production.
The Czech Republic’s upper house, the Senate, passed the much-anticipated amendment to the current Audiovisual Act on Tuesday (December 11), and the changes will come into effect on January 1, 2025.
It sees the introduction of a novel 35% incentive for animation and digital production without live action.
The changes to the production incentive will also see the refund on eligible expenses for traditionally produced projects such as feature films and fictional series boost from 20% to 25%.
Earlier this year, the Audiovisual Producers Association (APA) had lobbied the Czech Minister of Culture Martin Baxa to boost the level of the incentive to 25%, arguing that the current 20% was not competitive enough to attract international productions.
Another major change sees the inclusion of documentaries with a minimum running time of 70 minutes and a minimum Czech spend of €80,000 (CZK 2m) being able to tap into the programme from 2025, while documentary series will also be able to benefit from the 25% incentive when the entire Audiovisual Act law comes into force in 2026.
Moreover, the Senate agreed to a tripling of the current cap that can be paid out from €6m (CZK 150m) to €18m (CZK 450m) per project as part of the incentive scheme.
Czech Film Commission head Pavlína Žipková said: “We are thrilled that this step deepens our cooperation with international partners and helps us maintain and highlight our position as a leading filming hub in continental Europe. To be honest, we couldn’t wait any longer.”
The Czech Republic has been offering incentives for films and series production since 2010.
This year saw Prague attracting international productions such as the CBS series FBI: International, the second season of Netflix action comedy series Fubar, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Monica Barbaro, Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland’s Kafka biopic Franz, and the third season of Apple TV+ series Foundation. The sound stages of Barrandov Studio have been occupied from June to December 2024 with production of narrow series Blade Runner 2099, which is being produced by Alcon Television Group and Scott Free Productions.
Czech locations have also played host to a number of German productions during 2024. Wilma Film provided production services for the 40-day shoot of Wiedemann & Berg Film’s production of Philip Koch’s mystery thriller Brick for Netflix, while Sirena Film was the local partner for All Quiet On the Western Front producer Amusement Park’s Disney+ thriller series City Of Blood. MIA Film also handled the location shoots in Central Bohemia and Prague for the second season of Sommerhaus Filmproduktion’s Netflix series The Empress.
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