TORONTO – Giorgia Meloni’s Ministry of Culture has informed Producers, Unions and Banks of the key reforms to Italy’s new Tax Credit program for Film and Television.  Until now, much of the film and television industry in Italy – along with International suitors – had stalled their Italy-based Productions, as the application for the rebate program was closed for much of 2024. 

News of the reforms confirmed much of what Italian undersecretary for culture, Lucia Borgonzoni, had discussed back in June, namely that the reforms would focus on strengthening local productions and reducing wasteful spending that didn’t benefit Italian filmmakers. While the 40% tax rebate was touted as the catalyst for Italy’s recent boon in film, attracting International productions like “White Lotus”, “Ripley” and Amazon Prime’s “Those About to Die”, Meloni’s government would prefer to see more Italians involved in this return to Hollywood on the Tiber.

Meloni’s reforms are intended to support the local industry. For instance, International productions like those coming from Hollywood will still be eligible for the 40% tax credit for a maximum of €20M a year – so long as they include Italian talent. This was foretold back in June when Borgonzoni explained at the AVP Summit in Calabria that, “There are no constraints, there are rewards. For international productions, if an Italian actor, director, or screenwriter is used, we will give a 40% tax credit. So it’s actually a reward, because we are providing a 30% rebate for international productions that come to shoot in Italy. But we tell them: if there is Italian talent involved, instead of giving you 30%, we give you 40%”.

While many Industry professionals were concerned about cuts to resources, the fact is that the cap on rebates for International Co-Productions (with foreign talent) is virtually unchanged from €20M to €18M. The overall fund for development of investments in film and audio-visual for 2024 amounts to roughly 700 million Euros, which is also unchanged.

Perhaps the most telling of the reforms, in terms of what the Ministry of Culture intends with these new incentives, is the allocation of money towards stories that highlight Italian characters and narratives. There is now €52M dedicated to this fund, which is for film, television, documentaries and animation. Borgonzoni: “It’s for Italian stories, because we need to discover more Italian stories and maybe some of the Americans who come here and love our nation so much – also since there are so many Americans of Italian origin – will dedicate themselves to telling them”.

In the pics: a film set (credit to www.compagniadelcinema.it) and Lucia Borgonzoni (credit to www.formiche.net)   

Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix