Written by David Lewis on Jul 16, 2007. Posted in Incentive News

New Zealand changes large budget screen grant

The New Zealand Government today announced changes to New Zealand’s Large Budget Screen Production Grant (LBSPG). The changes were formulated following a review of the LBSPG that incorporated industry consultation.

Key aspects of the LBSPG that have been amended are:

Increasing the LBSPG from 12.5% to 15% of Qualifying New Zealand Production Expenditure (QNZPE); Removing the 70% QNZPE requirement for productions costing between $NZ15 million to $NZ50 million; Allowing productions costing a minimum of $NZ3 million each to “bundle” to meet the QNZPE of $NZ30 million over a 24 month period; Enabling a production, or productions within a bundle, to pre-qualify for the grant. The LBSPG payment will still be calculated against actual qualifying expenditure; Creating a specific post digital video incentive of 15% for work of this nature with a QNZPE of over $NZ3 million; The option to set an exchange rate at the start of production to offset against potential movements in the New Zealand dollar; Amending the payment criteria to allow very large budget productions to access the LBSPG each time the accumulated QNZPE of a production exceeds $NZ50 million multiples; and
allowing productions to claim the LBSPG at the completion of all expenditure in New Zealand, rather than at the completion of the overall production.