Donald Petrie’s “My Life in Ruins,” starring Nia Vardalos, is a perfect example of the kind of incentives a shoot can take advantage of in Spain. The €13 million ($19 million) U.S.-Spain co-production benefited from the fact that 30% of the budget was handled by Kanzaman Prods.’ Valencia-based office.
With 30% from Spain, the film qualifies as a national — and European — product, meaning it can benefit from subsidies from the Culture Minister’s Film Institute, which account for 33% of the Spanish producer’s investment and 15% of the Spanish boxoffice gross, capped at €1 million ($1.4 million). Additionally, Kanzaman used a reduced interest loan for the production, backed by the ICAA and Spain’s Official Credit Institute.
Kanzaman also tapped into the Valencia regional subsidy: A 16% return on local spending, which includes insurance and use of Alicante’s state-of-the-art studios Ciudad de la Luz. New additions to the package include European cast and crew salaries, with a maximum salary subsidy of €50,000 ($73,000).
“Production costs in Greece and Spain are pretty much the same, so in this case we opted for the 16% cost return from the Valencia region,” says Kanzaman’s Denis Pedregosa. “This also meant that we could use a world-class Spanish crew and control the production at home.”
Spain’s new tax law allows for an 18% tax deduction, which filmmakers hope makes investing in film a very attractive investment option.
“We can currently safely offer an additional 15% of the Spanish producer’s investment in terms of favorable equity, as we have investors already in place,” Pedregosa says.
