Euro Commisssion OKs French rebate

Hollywood tax incentives to commence in fall

By JOHN HOPEWELL

The European Commission signed off Thursday on France’s tax rebates for foreign shoots -- meaning the rebates will likely be available in the fall.

With the greenlight, the government will now be able to pass the decrees putting the rebates into effect and opening up the rebate to Hollywood.

A committee judging applications should meet some time in August and September, said Patrick Lamassoure, managing director of Film France, Gaul’s national film commission.

“This is great news. Companies wanting to apply for rebates should contact Film France to ready their applications,” he added.

Levied at 20% of expenditure in Gaul, the tax rebate on international productions was approved in December by the National Assembly.

The rebates are capped at E4 million ($5.7 million) and are on offer to foreign shoots that don’t draw coin from France’s CNC Film Institute as official co-productions.

The Commission has approved the cultural tests that projects must pass to ensure they have something to do with France -- a stipulation required in countries with similar tax-rebate schemes including the U.K. and Germany.

Films score in three categories: content (French story, setting, characters, source material/language); French companies working on the films (studios, post-production and f/x shingles); and practitioners (French or other European actors, directors, writers and producers).