Austria government first to cover costs of delayed productions

The Austrian government has taken the bold decision to create a €25m fund to compensate local and international productions that have been delayed or forced to shut down by the coronavirus.

In a world’s first, the government will pay out grants of up to €2.5m per production to cover losses incurred, such as if a lead actor contracts the virus and has to go into quarantine. The fact the programme also covers international productions is a huge step, with the fund paying up to half of the additional Covid-19 related costs.

Applications for the COVID-19 grants can be submitted until the end of this year. Austria re-opened for film and TV production three weeks ago under new health guidelines. The country, one of the first in Europe to introduce a strict lockdown, has emerged from the coronavirus pandemic comparatively unscathed. There have been just over 17,000 reported cases of COVID-19 and 688 reported deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus.

Producers across Europe are calling for their governments to create similar support funds to cover COVID-19 risks. At the moment, because insurers have not yet stepped up to provide coverage for coronavirus, producers bear all the risk if they are forced to shut down production.