50,000 Euros: this is the maximum contribution to which a television production choosing to film in Apulia can aspire, and the Apulia Film Commission is offering three incentives to film crews investing in the territory.
The National & International Film Fund guarantees a 25% rebate on expenditure sustained in the region, up to a maximum of 250,000 Euros.
This is a “counter” fund which can be requested at any time of the year, with a maximum response time of 60 days.
The Hospitality Fund, on the other hand, which covers 60% of the expenses sustained for food and lodging, up to a maximum of 200,000 Euros, is linked to a classification system and distributed according to calls for applications, an incentive that the film commission is making available through European FESR funds. There is also a Development Fund that disburses 10,000 Euros per project under development, another “counter” fund.
Just as important as the contributions are the services and opportunities the region can offer.
Possibly even more important, especially when looking at things in perspective, as the new director of the Apulia Film Commission, Daniele Basilio, explains:
“I believe that the path we should follow is to become increasingly competitive, offering crews that arrive here a ‘key in hand’ situation. The real challenge for a film commission involves creating a system of companies, professionals and services that are free and always cutting edge, offering significant savings in terms of time and money”.
This was the case for “Braccialetti rossi”, the famous TV series,a remake of the Catalan “Pulseras Rojas”, produced by Palomar and Rai Fiction, directed by Giacomo Campiotti (filming on the second season, which began in August, will be concluded in November), as Basilio explains:“The whole hospital in which the series is set was built by Apulian professionals inside the CIASU, the professional and university training center of Fasano, with considerable savings.
Another path is to activate the local fabric of entrepreneurs at the service of the industry, in order to stimulate private investment in television, where possible”.
And finally, concludes Basilio, “there is a great amount of excitement in terms of research, extending to the field of engineering, that is developing towards equipment and technologies dedicated to the world of audiovisuals and communication and includes cross-media platforms, companies involved in the research and development of drones, camera systems, or the field of VOD… A few months ago, three experts from Bari Polytechnic who, last year, won the Cisco Award for designing algorithms used for the distribution of videos on the internet, were given the 1 million Euro “Google research Award 2014” for their “Congestion control for Web real-time communication” project.
“Braccialetti Rossi” is just one of the TV sets working in Apulia: filming has just come to an end on the Isole Tremiti and in Monte Sant’Angelo, on “Un mondo nuovo” a TV movie about the life of Altiero Spinelli, produced by Palomar and Rai fiction, directed by Alberto Negrin and starring Isabella Ragonese and Vinicio Marchioni, and “Baciato dal sole” by Antonello Grimaldi (Pepito produzioni with Rai fiction), filmed in Monte Sant’Angelo, Manfredonia and Macchia. Vico del Gargano and Manfredonia will provide the locations for “Questo è il mio paese” (Cross productions), to be filmed by Michele Soavi over 10 weeks from October 20th.
