This year the Government announced changes to the Large Budget Screen Production Grant and Screen Production Incentive Fund. Check out our new blog post (reproduced below) which takes a look at what the key aspects of these changes bring for New Zealand’s screen industry bit.ly/19hf2Cj: Changes to New Zealand’s Screen Industry Incentive Schemes in 2013 In July this year the Government announced changes to the Large Budget Screen Production Grant (LBSPG) and Screen Production Incentive Fund (SPIF) following reviews of New Zealand’s screen industry by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The reviews found that the current incentives have been successful in bringing films, TV and post-production work to New Zealand but that changes could be made to encourage growth in the screen industry. The changes focus on making it easier for production activities, including television, to become eligible for the grants. With most of these changes having taken effect on 1 August 2013 and the remainder due to take effect on 1 October 2013, it’s a good time to take another look at what the key aspects of these changes bring. The LBSPG is an incentive established in 2003 to support the production of large budget film and television productions in New Zealand. The grant offers a 15% rebate on qualifying New Zealand production expenditure for projects which reach prescribed thresholds. The SPIF complements the LBSPG by incentivising medium to large scale productions that also meet certain cultural criteria. The fund is focused on business development and aims to establish closer international market connections and access to private finance for larger screen productions. The fund provides a rebate on qualifying New Zealand production expenditure of 40% for feature films (capped at NZ$6 million) and 20% for television and other formats (capped at NZ$3 million). The main changes to the LBSPG are: • Lowering the qualifying production expenditure threshold for Post, Digital and Visual Effects Grant from NZ$3 million to NZ$1 million; • Extending the period for completing principal photography and/or key animation on bundled productions from 24 months to 36 months; and • Lowering the qualifying production expenditure threshold for Television Productions from NZ$15 million to NZ$4 million. This change is effective from 1 October 2013. The main changes to the SPIF are: • Requiring applicants to find more of their budget from sources other than the government (10% for films and 25% for TV and other formats); • Lowering the production budget qualifying threshold for short animation productions from NZ$1 million to NZ$0.4 million per hour; and • Allowing joint access to the SPIF, NZ On Air and Te Mangai Paho funding for animation productions. The driving force behind these changes is to create sustainability within our screen industry. It’s anticipated that these changes would result in more international screen productions coming to New Zealand and more local film and TV producers creating high-quality post production work that’s attractive both in New Zealand and in overseas markets. Detailed information about the incentive funds and other changes can be found on the New Zealand Film Commission website (nzfilm.co.nz/).
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 19:54:44 +0000
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