Romanian authorities have set up a state aid scheme designed to help boost the local movie industry.

Essentially, it is meant to work as a cash rebate system, by which foreign production companies are encouraged to spend money in Romania, using Romanian production companies, and, after production wraps up, up to 30% of the eligible expenditures and up to 10 million EURO per project can be redeemed.

All the details regarding eligible projects and amounts can be found below:

• 30% cash rebate on eligible expenditures on the Romanian territory, up to 10.000.000 EUR per project;
• ELIGIBLE PROJECTS: short, medium, long feature films, tv series, mini-series, documentaries, animation;
• ELIGIBLE EXPENSES: BTL and ATL direct costs related to the project incurred after the submission of the application, for which payments are made either to Romanian companies, Romanian individuals or to foreign individuals, subject to withholding tax in Romania;
• MINIMUM EXPENDITURE per type of project:
  • 100,000 EUR for feature film;
  • 100,000 EUR for each of the episodes of a series, value determined based on the average of the total budget allocated for the implementation of the project on the territory of Romania to the number of episodes produced on the territory of Romania;
  • 50,000 euros for documentaries;
  • 15.000 eur for projects aimed at making a short film or animation;
• The submission of REGISTRATION APPLICATIONS and FUNDING REQUESTS is carried out throughout the year, in a continuous session.
• For the projects REGISTRATED and declared ELIGIBLE by Film Commission in Romania, the Film Office will issue CERTIFICATES OF ELIGIBILITY to applicants;
• Start of prep must begin in maximum 60 days from the issuance’s date of the certificate and principal photography within no more than 9 months from such date;
• After the implementation of the project, a FUNDING REQUEST will be submitted to the Film Office, within 60 working days from the last incurred eligible expenses on the territory of Romania;
• The Film Office will settle the cash rebate based on a PAYMENT REQUEST and an audit report, submitted within 9 months from the date of signing the Financing Agreement of the project;
• The payment of the cash rebate will be done in 120 days from the approval of such payment request.