Offering one of the oldest cinematic traditions in the world, Greece is for several reasons a film friendly destination. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the country has attracted landmark international film productions to its unique locations.
Greece is now investing in its audiovisual production industry, producing new talents, making its presence felt at the international festivals, setting trends, and interacting with the international film scene.
Investments in audiovisual productions have a significant positive impact to the Greek economy, since they contribute to GDP growth, employment and tax revenues. Moreover, attracting foreign audiovisual productions has an important contribution to tourism development of the country.
Why Greece
Greece is for more than one reasons an ideal destination for an audiovisual production project:
Generous investment incentives: for film facilities, studio infrastructure and AV production via Greece’s investment law, competitive cash rebate, tax relief scheme, the forthcoming European Structural Funds & the Greek Development Bank
Streamlined licensing procedure: 15 Film Offices located in 13 Greek Regions designed with the expertise of the National Centre of Audiovisual Media and Communication (EKOME)
Experienced professional, industry experts and state of the art facilities: Highly qualified film professionals and industry experts (HFC, EKOME)have the expertise and provide guidance and continuous support
Production value at a competitive cost: Excellent crews, top quality equipment, rental services, laboratories, competitive wages.
Incomparable natural and architectural set: Unique locations and natural light all year long
Safe and hospitable environment for international production: Greece is one of Europe’s safest destinations for tourism, work and audiovisual productions
Main investment opportunities
Feature films
TV series
Documentaries
Animation
Cultural and educational video-gaming
Web products
Software prototyping for computer games
Computer applications and programs, game machines and mobile phones
Film tourism development
Incentive schemes for production of audiovisual works in Greece
Investment incentive – Law 4487/2017 (Cash Rebate)
Law 4487/2017 establishes the investment incentives framework for the production of audiovisual works in Greece, by providing a State grant (cash rebate) for an amount of up to 40%. The incentive regards the reimbursement of a monetary amount covering eligible expenses incurred in Greece, for the purposes of production of audiovisual works in Greece, e.g. feature films, tv series, documentaries, animation as well as digital games.
Moreover, the Greek cash rebate can serve as a collateral for producers to obtain funds through the Greek banking system. Financing of the rebate is guaranteed through the Greek Public Investment Programme and amounts to €75 million available for the years 2018 to 2022.
Incentive rates:
The sum of the incentive amounts to 40% of the total eligible expenses of the production.
The incentive may be combined with other public incentives, subject to the condition that the total sum of the public incentives granted may not exceed 50% of the total cost of the audiovisual work.
This rate is increased to 60% of the total cost of the audiovisual production in case of cross border productions and to 80% of the total cost of the audiovisual production in case of a “difficult” audiovisual work.
Tax incentive for production of audiovisual works
Type of aid: The investment plans that qualify for the law are supported with a tax relief scheme. More specifically, 30% of eligible expenses incurred in Greece for each audiovisual work is deducted from the taxable income of a legal entity or natural person that is subject to taxation in Greece and invests in audiovisual works.
Indicative Productions filmed in Greece
International Classics: THE BIG BLUE, ZORBA THE GREEK, THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, BOY ON A DOLPHIN
Hollywood Productions: THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY, BEFORE MIDNIGHT, MAMMA MIA, LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER, CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN
High-end TV series: THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRLS, THE DURRELLS
Recent Success Stories: LOVING VINCENT (Oscars 2018, Nominee for Best Animated Feature Film), IN THE FADE (Golden Globe 2018 for Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language)