Exclusive: Greece to raise cash rebate from 35% to 40%

The Greek government has approved a rise in the country’s cash rebate incentive for film and TV productions from 35% to 40%, in an effort to further entice international projects.

The increase was announced during a cabinet meeting chaired by the prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and is expected to come into play within the next couple of months.

On top of the rise, there will also be an acceleration of the application process and payback of the rebate to further entice foreign investors and allow productions to plan accordingly, according to ministry officials.

Once the ammended legislation has been voted and approved by parliament, which is expected to be in July, the 40% cash rebate will apply to eligible expenses incurred in Greece for feature films, documentaries, TV drama series, animation films and digital games. Until its been approved by parliament, applications are considered on the 35% basis.

The incentive has already proven popular thanks to the extremely low minimum eligible Greek expenditure of €100,000 for feature films and documentaries and €30,000 for TV Series per episode, with no cap per project.  

In a further boost, the Greek government has created a 30% tax credit, which can be combined with the rebate, as long as the amount a production receives does not exceed 50% of each project’s total production spend.

Greece has already resumed local productions and is expected to welcome international productions in the coming months. “We are ready to welcome back foreign shoots here,” said Vasiliki Diagouma, communications director at the National Centre of Audiovisual Media and Communication (Ekome), which administers the incentive. “We are already processing applications and we believe the majority of foreign shoots will take place in September.”

Forthcoming projects include Ruben Ostlund’s Triangle Of Sadness, starring Woody Harrelson, which had originally been planned for a late April shoot but is now set for early July. Plus, Francois Uzan’s On Sourit Pour La Photo (literally Say Cheese), a France-Greece co-production between Radar Films, Unagi Films and Fenia Kossovitsa of Greek outfit Blonde.