Through the Tourism, Cinema and Audiovisual Support Fund, Portugal created one of the most competitive financial incentive systems in Europe – the Incentive to Production and Filming, established by Decree-Law no. 45/2018, of 19 June and whose Regulation is set out in Annex I to Ordinance No. 490/2018, of 28 September, amended by Ordinance No. 198/2019, of 27 June.
Main features of the Incentive
- Applies to Film, Audiovisual and VOD Productions: National, Foreign (executive/services) and/or official and de facto co-productions; -Minimum expenditure in Portugal: € 500,000.00 for fiction or animation projects | € 250,000.00 for documentary or post-production projects; -Support rate of 25%, which can be increased to 30%, on eligible expenditure. The percentage is determined by a ‘Cultural Test’, which is attached to the aforementioned Regulation, focusing on the characteristics of the project; -Attribution of support on a first come first served basis; -Payments in advance and in instalments; -Maximum incentive allocated per project is € 4m; -Decision to award the incentive within 20 working days. Who can apply Companies registered in the Cinematographic and Audiovisual Entities Registry, a platform provided by the Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual (ICA), provided they have as a corporate purpose: a) The activity of producing films intended for projection in cinemas or broadcast on television or through audiovisual communication services on demand or other audiovisual communication services; b) The provision of technical services related to cinema and audiovisual production, including equipment rental, technical post-production activities, laboratory activities for film production, special laboratory activities for animated films and sound post-production activities. The Registration of Cinematographic and Audiovisual Entities ensures the mobility of the registration of a European company, non-resident and without a branch in Portugal, in order to allow the application for the Incentive to entities with headquarters in another member state of the European Union or in a State of the European Economic Area. However, before the start date for the realisation of eligible expenses, the applicant entity must establish a company or branch with a legal personality in Portugal, and companies with a specific object and limited duration to the production and management of one or more works – ‘special purpose vehicle companies’ – are permitted. If the project is a co-production that involves more than one producer established in Portugal, each of the co-producers must make an application for the Incentive, regarding the eligible expenses they support. Source: The Portugal Film Commission The Loule Film Office
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The Portugal Film Commission
The Portugal Film Commission’s mission is to promote the internationalisation of Portugal as a filming destination and to streamline the procedures regarding filming requests by portuguese and foreign producers, in Portugal. According to RCM No. 85/2019, the PFC’s competences are as follows: 1. Create conditions for the affirmation and promotion of Portugal as a destination of excellence for international production; 2. Guarantee the international projection of Portugal’s mainland and autonomous regions, as privileged filmings destinations; 3. Contribute to the national and international dissemination of the Support Fund for Tourism and Cinema, as a competitive instrument designed to capture cinematographic and audiovisual production for Portugal; 4. Define best practices and methods to support filming by national and international producers; 5. Ensure the articulation with all services in their scope of action, namely accompanying the creation and implementation of the one-stop shop for procedures, regarding support and licensing; 6. Guarantee and ensure articulation with regional tourism entities, namely in the promotion, exhibition and discovery of filming locations; 7. Establish, together with regional tourism entities, quick channels for local monitoring of productions within the territory; 8. To guarantee the functioning and operability of the «PIC Portugal» platform, in articulation with the service platform that supports the ePortugal website and the websites of Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, I. P. (ICA, I. P.) and Turismo de Portugal, IP, through the iAP interoperability platform, ensuring the evolution towards the dematerialisation of processes and the provision of digital services; 9. To guarantee, in the relationship with entities in the national territory, an effective, informed and collaborative articulation, namely with municipalities and parishes; 10. Promote the creation of databases of the various providers of technical and logistical services existing in the national territory, to ensure the best use of existing resources and conditions to support filming; 11. To ensure the correct identification and reporting of the needs and practical difficulties of film production at a national level, in order to create solutions that will provide Portugal with the necessary means to guarantee the successful implementation of filmmaking; 12. Identify legislative or regulatory changes to simplify and standardise administrative procedures for licensing, authorisation or prior communication necessary for filming in the national territory; 13. Collaborate in the elaboration of the multi-annual strategic plan for cinema and audiovisual, in the context of internationalisation, provided for in article 3 of Decree-Law no. 25/2018, of 24 April; 14. To propose the definitive institutional and governance model for the national Film Commission, according to the best international practices, after benchmarking the most important foreign structures and guaranteeing high standards of excellence in this domain. LINKS :
The Portugal Film Commission : https://portugalfilmcommission.com/en/pfc/ The Loule Film Office : https://www.cm-loule.pt/pt/menu/867/loule-film-office.aspx The Algarve Film Commission : https://www.algarvefilm.com/site/index.php FTV Productions Algarve Lda : https://productionalgarve.tv/ |