France to supply tax credits to English language film
France is set to make an amendment to their finance laws in order to grant tax credits to the Luc Besson-helmed film Valerian and The City of a Thousand Planets.
By Josh Wilson 14 Sep 2015
France is set to make an amendment to their finance laws in order to grant tax credits to the Luc Besson-helmed film Valerian and The City of a Thousand Planets.
With an estimated budget of €170m, the upcoming science-fiction blockbuster, starring Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan is set to be the biggest budget movie ever to film in mainland Europe.
The potential employment the film would create reportedly left the incumbent socialist government no choice but to change the law and extend tax relief to English-speaking French productions, therefore qualifying the movie for credits.
Before the French government took action, Besson told RTL radio: “There's a small problem called tax credits... I have a French film being made in English so I have the right to zero (credits) as a French film. I'm in a legal black hole.”
Picture of Cité du Cinéma
Besson was preparing to shoot the production in Hungary instead, claiming he could receive up to 40% back in incentives.
As a retort to the possibility of losing the film, Bruno Le Roux, president of the Socialists’ parliamentary group, told Le Parisien of the planned changes in order to keep the film.
Besson’s production company, EuropaCorp, is currently waiting for confirmation of the changes. If everything goes to plan and the project stays in France, Valerien will shoot in the Cité du Cinéma - a film studio located in Seine-Saint-Denis.
Luc Besson photo from Getty Images, pic via Vittorio Zunino Celotto.
The potential employment the film would create reportedly left the incumbent socialist government no choice but to change the law and extend tax relief to English-speaking French productions, therefore qualifying the movie for credits.
Before the French government took action, Besson told RTL radio: “There's a small problem called tax credits... I have a French film being made in English so I have the right to zero (credits) as a French film. I'm in a legal black hole.”
Picture of Cité du Cinéma
Besson was preparing to shoot the production in Hungary instead, claiming he could receive up to 40% back in incentives.
As a retort to the possibility of losing the film, Bruno Le Roux, president of the Socialists’ parliamentary group, told Le Parisien of the planned changes in order to keep the film.
Besson’s production company, EuropaCorp, is currently waiting for confirmation of the changes. If everything goes to plan and the project stays in France, Valerien will shoot in the Cité du Cinéma - a film studio located in Seine-Saint-Denis.
Luc Besson photo from Getty Images, pic via Vittorio Zunino Celotto.
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