Selective contributions - Law no. 220/2016 (OLD)

Description

Law n° 220 of 14 November 2016 “Disciplina del cinema e dell’audiovisivo” establishes the ‘Film and Audiovisual Fund’ aimed at funding works through tax credits, automatic contributions and selective contributions.

Selective contributions, which are governed by the Decree issued by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism on 31 July 2017, comprising ‘Implementing provisions for the selective contributions indicated in article 26 of Law no. 220 of 14 November 2016’, are granted by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism for the writing, development, production and national and international distribution of Italian film and audiovisual works.

Applications for funding for the:

writing of screenplays for film, television and web products;
development and pre-production of film, television and web products;
production of films, animations, documentaries and short films;
national distribution of film works;
international distribution of film and television works;

may be submitted at just one of the two evaluation sessions scheduled for 2017, starting from 15 November 2017.

The funding available is divided up as follows:

Writing of screenplays: €960,000
- ?feature films: €400,000, divided between the two sessions into €200,000 for each (a maximum of 10 projects will be granted funding at each session);
- feature films for television and the web: €320,000, divided between the two sessions into €160,000 for each (a maximum of eight projects will be granted funding at each session);
- aother web works: €240,000, divided between the two sessions into €120,000 for each (a maximum of eight projects will be granted funding at each session).
Development and pre-production: €2,560,000
- feature films: €1,000,000, divided between the two sessions into €500,000 for each (a maximum of five projects will be granted funding at each session, of which at least two must be by newly formed companies or networks of companies);
- television and web products made for providers of audiovisual services via alternative means: €1,200,000, divided between the two sessions into €600,000 for each (a maximum of six projects will be granted funding at each session, at least two of which must be by newly formed companies or networks of companies);
- web works for hosting service providers: €360,000, divided between the two sessions into €180,000 for each (a maximum of six projects will be granted funding at each session, of which at least three must be by newly formed companies or networks of companies).
Production: €23,680,000
- feature films by young writers: €5,760,000, divided between the two sessions into €2,880,000 for each (a maximum of eight works will be granted funding at each session, of which at least two must be produced by newly formed companies or networks of companies);
- first and second feature films: €3,840,000, divided between the two sessions into €1,920,000 for each (a maximum of five works will be granted funding at each session, of which at least one must be produced by new companies and networks of companies);
- documentaries and short films for theatrical, television and web release: €1,920,000, divided between the two sessions into €960,000 for each, of which 20%, i.e. €192,000, must be set aside for newly formed companies and networks of companies;
- animated films for theatrical, television and web release: €2,560,000, divided between the two sessions into €1,280,000 for each, of which 20%, i.e. €256,000, must be set aside for newly formed companies and networks of companies;
- feature films of particular artistic value and difficult films with low budgets: €9,600,000, divided between the two sessions into €4,800,000 for each (a maximum of 10 works will be granted funding at each session, of which at least two must be difficult films with low budgets and films by newly formed companies or networks of companies).
National distribution of films: €2,880,000, divided between the two sessions into €1,440,000 for each, of which 15%, i.e. €216,000, must be set aside for newly formed companies and networks of companies.
International distribution of film and television works: €960,000
- foreign distribution projects: €660,000 divided between the two sessions into €330,000 for each (a maximum of 20 works will be granted funding at each session, of which at least four must be produced by newly formed companies or networks of companies);
- foreign marketing projects: €300,000, divided between the two sessions into €150,000 for each (a maximum of five works will be granted funding at each session, of which at least one must be produced by a newly formed company or network of companies).

Contacts

MiC - Directorate-General Cinema and Audiovisual (DGCA)

Telephone: +39 06 67233400
Fax: +39 06 67233290
Email: dg-c@beniculturali.it

Link to the call Print Tab

Data sheet

Production

Italian Film or co-production

Distribution channel

Cinema
Television
Web

Film industry branch

Development
Production
Distribution
Writing

Assessment

selective

Eligible projects

Feature Film
Short Film
Screenplays
TV series
Documentary
Animation
Web product

Beneficiaries

Italian production company
European production company
Italian or European distribution company
Author of the project, Screenwriter

Maximum contribution

Writing of screenplays: €20,000 (€15,000 for other web products).

Development and pre-production: €100,000 (€30,000 for the development and pre-production of web products for hosting service providers).

Production

first or second films by young writers: €2,400,000;
documentaries: €600,000;
short films: €120,000;
animated works: €1,280,000;
difficult films with low budgets: €900,000;
films of particular artistic value: €2,400,000.

National distribution of films: €200,000.

International distribution of films and television works:

foreign film distribution projects: €30,000 per work per individual country;
foreign marketing projects: €30,000 per project per individual country.

Maximum quota on cost

Selective contributions can be combined with other public support measures up to the overall limit of 50% of the production or distribution costs of the audiovisual work.

This limit is raised to 60% for the works indicated in article 54(7a) of Regulation (EU) No. 651/2014 of the Commission of 17 June 2014 and subsequent amendments and modifications.

This limit is further raised to 100% of overall costs for difficult films along with the development and pre-production projects indicated in section 2 of the call for applications.

Development and pre-production

60% of eligible costs
for co-productions, partnerships and international productions, eligible costs are those incurred by the Italian co-producers/partners.

Production: 60% of eligible costs.

National distribution of films: 60% of eligible costs.

International distribution of films and television works:

foreign film distribution projects: 60% of eligible costs;
foreign marketing projects: 60% of eligible costs.

Type of contribution

Non-repayable grants

Requirements

Italian nationality must be requested
Minimum spend in the territory:
Production: 100% of the funding granted must be spent on Italian territory

Production - The work must respect the following financial conditions:

for the production of first and second films and films by young writers, total eligible costs must not exceed €4,000,000, as declared in the quote and confirmed in the final balance, and the above-the-line costs, or rather the wages of the director, the writers of the story and the main actors, must not exceed 25% of production costs;
for the production of documentaries and short films, total eligible costs must not exceed €1,000,000 and €200,000 respectively, as declared in the quote and confirmed in the final balance;
for the production of difficult films with low budgets, total eligible costs must not exceed €1,500,000, as declared in the quote and confirmed in the final balance;
for the production of films of particular artistic value, total eligible costs must not exceed €4,000,000, as declared in the quote and confirmed in the final balance, and above-the-line costs, or rather the wages of the director, the writers of the story and the main actors, must not exceed 30% of production costs.
for international co-productions or international partnerships in which the Italian production company holds no less than 20% of the rights to the work, the overall cost of the film must not exceed €10,000,000.

Works for which funding is requested must have been released in theatres or distributed to the general public after 31 December 2016.

Payment schedule

Writing of screenplays

Funding is paid in two stages:

within 30 days of publication of the list of winners, DG Film pays an advance of 50% of the funding awarded;
within 12 months of the date on which the advance is paid, the beneficiary must submit the final screenplay to DG Film (this deadline may be extended once by six months, with the authorisation of DG Film); once the necessary checks have been carried out, DG Film pays the remaining portion of funding within 90 days of the relevant documentation being submitted.

Development and pre-production

Funding is paid at different stages of progress:

within 180 days of the decree approving the list of winners being issued, the beneficiary must submit documentation corroborating the amounts indicated in the preliminary financial plan; within the next 90 days, if the preliminary checks go well, DG Film pays an advance of 40% of the funding awarded;
on pain of losing the entire amount, within 30 days of the advance payment being made the beneficiary must submit receipts of payment for the wages of the writers of the story and the screenplay;
within a year of the advance being paid (a deadline which may be extended once by six months, with the authorisation of DG Film) and at any rate before the preliminary request to grant the work Italian nationality, the company must submit its final funding application to DG Film;
after carrying out the necessary checks, DG Film pays the remaining balance of the funding within 90 days.

Production

Funding is paid at different stages of progress:

Within a year of the decree approving the list of winners being issued, the beneficiary must submit documentation corroborating the amounts indicated in the preliminary financial plan;
within the next 90 days, if the preliminary checks go well, DG Film pays an advance of 40% of the funding awarded;
within 30 days of the advance payment being made, the beneficiary must submit receipts of payment for the wages of the writers of the story and the screenplay;
at the end of principal photography, the beneficiary must communicate, via certified email, the ways in which it will make the material it has filmed available to DG Film; after examining the material, DG Film pays a second advance of 40%;
within 24 months of the first advance being paid (36 months for animated works), the beneficiary company must submit its final funding application to DG Film;
after carrying out the necessary checks, DG Film pays the remaining balance of the funding within 90 days.

National distribution of films

Funding is paid at different stages of progress:

within 90 days of the decree approving the list of winners being issued, DG Film pays an advance of 40% of the funding awarded;
within 15 months of the advance being paid, the beneficiary must submit its final application for funding to DG Film (the deadline may be extended, with the approval of experts, when the distribution project involves a longer timeframe from the start);
after carrying out the necessary checks, DG Film pays the remaining balance of the funding within 90 days.

International distribution of films and television works

Funding is paid upon presentation of the final funding application, which is to be submitted no later than 12 months after the date of the decree awarding the funding and at any rate within 90 days of the date (a deadline that may be extended with the approval of experts, when the distribution project involves a longer timeframe from the start):

on which international distribution is concluded in each country, for foreign distribution projects;
on which the project comes to a close, for foreign marketing projects.

after carrying out the necessary checks, DG Film pays the remaining balance of the funding within 90 days.

Notes

Applications for funding must be made online via the website www.cinema.beniculturali.it

Selective contributions - Law no. 220/2016 (OLD)

Description

Contacts

Data sheet

Production

Distribution channel

Film industry branch

Assessment

Eligible projects

Beneficiaries

Maximum contribution

Maximum quota on cost

Type of contribution

Requirements

Payment schedule

Notes

Fundings in focus