Croatia introduces filming tax rebate; filming announcement soon to follow?

Perhaps adding some more fuel to the rumors that Game of Thrones will film in Croatia for season two, The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Croatia has added a tax rebate for TV shows/films filmed in their country. This rebate is similar to the UK Film Tax Relief, which the production took advantage of when filming season one in Northern Ireland.

The tiny Balkan nation of Croatia has joined Europe’s cash back club, passing a new law to give producers a 20% tax rebate on production costs for shoots in country. The tax break will apply to feature films, documentaries, animation and TV drama shot  in Croatia and will be capped at $4.2 million (€3 million) per project. A minimum local spend of $422,000 (€300,000) is required to qualify for the scheme and producers can apply for the rebate for up to a maximum of 80% of the overall budget spend in Croatia.

Winter Is Coming: From what we have heard, Croatia has been desired as a new filming location by the production team. However, the deal to film there had not yet been finalized. My guess is that one of the reasons the deal was not finalized previously was because they were awaiting the passing of this law. In fact, I am willing to bet this law was passed for the primary purpose of attracting HBO and Thrones to the region. I suspect, now that this law is approved, we should get an official announcement about the filming in Croatia within the next several weeks.

• Published on 07/19/2011 at 11:44 AM CDT
• Last updated on 07/19/2011 at 11:44 AM CDT