Serbia boosts cash rebate to €14.5m

The Ministry of Culture/Serbian Government has increased the budget allocated to the cash rebate Serbia Film Incentive programme to €14.5m, according to Serbia Film Commission (SFC).

The Ark, produced by Electric Entertainment for SyFy, will be the first to benefit from the increased incentive. Series writer and creator, Dean Devlin, serves alongside  Jonathan Glassner as co-showrunner and executive producer.

The series will shoot entirely in Serbia and is set 100 years in the future when planetary colonisation missions are taking place to help secure the survival of the human race. Jonathan English of Balkanic Media will be in charge of the production. Pre-production is underway, with principal photography scheduled to begin this month at PFI Studios.

Serbia's fast-growing film production sector saw a record number of 12 US projects, out of a total of 36 films, TV series, and high-end TVCs, shooting on location in the country in 2021, providing an estimated income of €45m to the sector.   

In addition, two new studio locations, across the bridge from downtown Belgrade, have marked out the strip between Belgrade and the city of Pancevo as a developing film studio zone. The film rental company, Vision Team, is expanding its lot with five new studios and a backlot. Meanwhile, Firefly is building an approx 5,000 sq m of new studio space. Both facilities are expected to open their doors by September 2022 and will offer an additional 10,000 sq m of studio space in Serbia.

Bogdan Petkovic, president of SFC Board of Directors, said: “In the last five years Serbia has become one of the most likely destinations in this part of Europe for the service production of movies, TV dramas, commercials, as well as great CGI and post-production. Incentives that are provided by the government have definitely big role in this growth trend while industry has built strong technical and skilled personal base of film professionals."