Written by Shona Smith on Mar 21, 2019. Posted in Incentive News

Western Sweden introduces 30% rebate pilot

Feature films and scripted TV dramas shooting completely, or partially in Western Sweden will be eligible to receive a rebate of up to 30% on local qualified spend costs in the pilot rebate scheme.

Applications for the first round of applications is March 31, 2019 and from then on will be processed on a first come, first serve basis. The western region of Sweden, where Gothenburg is situated is one of Sweden’s main production hubs and has gained a reputation for its creative talent.

In 2018, Western Sweden recorded a record amount of shoots, as well as critical successes. Oscar nominated The Wife (pictured), for which Glenn Close narrowly missed out on Academy Award for best actress and Lone Scherfig’s Berlinale opener The Kindness of Strangers are both recent co-productions with Film I Väst, the region’s film fund who are administering the new incentive.

Mikael Fellenius, CEO of Film i Väst said "The west coast of Sweden is Scandinavia’s main production hub. The region has an efficient production and post-production infrastructure as well as lots of skilled talent. The new production rebate will make us as competitive on the financial side as on the creative and production side”.

Until this announcement, Sweden has not had a formal incentive in place, although there are a range of film funds in place. The production rebate is limited to established production companies within the audio-visual sector in EU. Therefore, applicants must have a co-producer able to access the rebate. Find more information on the Film i Vast website.