External tax credit advice. Or: how to grab the interest of Piedmontese entrepreneurs and transform it into investment in audiovisuals. This is the mission of the FIP, Film Investment Piemonte, a company set up in 2010 in which the Film Commission Torino Piemonte holds a 100% interest.
Using the know how acquired in direct investment– 2 million Euros in 17 Piedmontese audiovisual projects in 3 years – since 2014 it has concentrated on Tax credits, scouting around the businesses in the region and making them aware of the opportunities offered by this new financial tool also in terms of communication and promotion.
The FIP’s CEO is Paolo Tenna, a manager specialized in product placement: “My experience has integrated know how regarding the financial analysis of projects with relational skills that definitely make the difference when an entrepreneur has to decide whether or not to invest in a movie”. This is particularly true for small and medium sized businesses.
In 2014, the year of the “start-up”, FIP brought the production of the movie ‘Non c’è due senza te’ by Massimo Cappelli to Alba, ‘In un posto bellissimo’ by Giorgia Cecere to Asti, and ‘Un posto sicuro’ to Casale Monferrato, movies that attracted a total investment of around 2 million Euros.
In order to incentivize the propensity for businesses to invest in the region, FIP has signed an agreement with Eurofidi, the most important Italian credit guarantee consortium, that is offering a guarantee limit to small and medium sized businesses that invest in Piedmontese theatrical projects. “The guarantee”, explains Camilla Ravina, who is following the project at FIP, “provides for cover of up 30% of the investment of the private entrepreneur requesting the tax credit”. Basically, this guarantee rises to 50%, since it acts on an investment that has already recovered 40% through tax credits. FIP acts as an advisor throughout the whole transaction, selecting the projects for Eurofidi.
One initiative on which Tenna is working is the “Club degli investitori – Investigators’ Club”. “We want to guarantee that the people who invest in productions filmed in Piedmont play a role in the Piedmontese cinema system”.
In 2015 two important projects on which FIP is working will be arriving in Piedmont: ‘Fai bei sogni’ by Marco Bellocchio and ‘The correspondence’ by Giuseppe Tornatore.
The “promise” that Paolo Tenna has made the Film Commission is to double the budget of public contributions – 3 million Euros – with private investments.
