SWEDENS FIRST ROUND OF 25% CASH REBATE

The scheme meant to attract foreign shoots in Sweden and keep local productions at home opened on November 7 and closed the following day due to high demand.

The much-awaited 25% Swedish production rebate greenlit by the Swedish Parliament in December,, placing Sweden in line with Finland, Iceland and Norway as attractive Nordic filming nations.

The scheme administered by Tillväxtverket (Swedish Agency for Economic Growth) on behalf of the Swedish government, has an annual budget of SEK100m (approximately €9.2m), although the industry had originally lobbied for SEK300m (€27.5m).

The 25% production rebate was open to audiovisual works (feature films, documentaries, drama series and docu series) with production costs incurred locally above SEK4m (€368,000). To be eligible, productions must take place fully or partly in Sweden, budgets for the projects must be of a minimum SEK30m (€2.7m) for a feature project, SEK10m (€920,000) for a documentary, SEK10m per episode for a drama series, and SEK5m (€460,000) per episode for a docu series. Support is allocated on a first-come first-served basis and to a maximum of 25% of eligible costs.

On November 7, opening day of the first round of support, Tillväxtverket received 37 applications worth over SEK300m (€27.5m) and already November 8, the Agency decided to close its support for 2022, estimating that their SEK100m envelop would already run out.

Tillväxtverket which is still to announce the projects supported, said the next round of applications is due to open in the spring 2023.

Meanwhile three of Sweden’s regional film funds Film i Väst, Film i Skåne and Film Stockholm whose co-production support can be combined with the new incentives, were all enthusiastic and hopeful about the new opportunities to boost their local audiovisual activities and economy.

For further information about the new Swedish production rebate, check: www.tillvaxtverket.se

Source: Nordisk Film og TV fond