30/03/2011

The Serbian government has passed a decree establishing the new Serbia Film Incentive programme.

The incentive is a straightforward 15% cash rebate on goods, products and services purchased for international productions in Serbia. It also offers a further 12% rebate on Serbian labour, which includes foreign crew and talent if they are paid in the country during the production. The minimum spending amount in Serbia is €2m.

The incentive is a part of the Ministry of Trade and Agriculture’s campaign to promote Serbia as a filming, tourism and business destination.

In 2009, Serbia launched the informative FilminSerbia website, describing production facilities, services providers and filming locations. The Serbia Film Commission, the first of its kind in South-Eastern Europe that is independent from the state, partially funded by USAID and the EU, was established soon after and has introduced a range of coordination and training measures to improve filming in the country.

Serbia is already 20-25% less expensive than other countries in the Balkans, so the new incentive should make it more attractive than current international production hot spots in the region such as Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.

Films such as James McTeigue’s The Raven, starring John Cusack; EuropaCorp’s Lockout with Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace; Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which premiered in the Berlinale Competition; as well as a number of Italian TV series were shot Serbia in 2010. Their combined budgets amounted to €21.3m.

The Ministry of Trade and Agriculture is expected to announce a competition for project submissions in the next month, and the deadline should be October 31. The incentive is currently available for 2011 but a continuation of the programme in 2012 is almost certain.