In a bid to stimulate the South African film and television production industry the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has increased its rebate cap for foreign and local productions (including official treaty co-productions) to R20m. The cap was previously set at R10m.
Says the DTI’s Karin Liebenberg: “The R20m cap has been in the pipeline since last October and was based on our own benchmarking exercise as well as a submission from the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO).”
The DTI’s Foreign Film and Television Production Incentive is only available to foreign owned qualifying productions with Qualifying South African Production Expenditure (QSAPE) of R12m and above. Eligible applicants will obtain a rebated a sum which totals 15% of the QSAPE, with the rebate capped at R20m.
South African productions and official treaty co-productions with total production budgets of R2.5m and above are eligible for the DTI’s South African Film and Television Production & Co-production Incentive. Eligible productions will receive a rebate of up to 35% of the QSAPE, with the rebate capped at R20m.
Producer David Wicht of Film Afrika (The Lost Future; America: The Story of Us) was one of the IPO long-form sub-committee members who approached the DTI.
Read more in the November / December 2010 issue of Screen Africa.
