An important deal between ICAA (Spanish Film Institute) and ICO (Official Organism of public credit) was signed last week in Spain to guarantee the credit flow to production companies that have been previously backed up by TV corporations.
In Spain, the law obligates those operators to invest the 5% of their incoming into local cinema production.
Carlos Cuadros, CEO of ICAA, told Screen: “This is a very important deal since banks are being short on credit and many production companies have been struggling to get money to shoot even if they had a good contract with TVs for broadcasting rights. What we are doing makes us feel proud because it is a recognition from Spanish Government that cinema is an important industry that can create jobs.”
The deal will end in October 2014.
Until now, only the films with agreements with Spanish Public Broadcasting Company, TVE, had the possibility to finance with ICO the advance of the amount of broadcasting rights. The producers with deals other TV companies could only use ICO as an intermediary and ultimately, guarantor.
Cuadros has not revealed how much money will be available in total. “ICO is now studying the financial situation of every TV company,” he said. “But it will put an important amount of cash on business and will be an important incentive.”
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