Lucia Borgonzoni

Source: AVP Summit

Lucia Borgonzoni

The Italian government is working on reforms to its 40% tax credit for film and TV series.

Speaking to Screen at the Audiovisual Producers Summit in Trieste, deputy culture minister Lucia Borgonzoni stressed Italy was not looking to amend the headline 40% rate on offer to productions but wanted to “raise the quality level” of projects securing the credit.

Italy’s 40% tax credit has proved a big draw for international shoots, this year including films such as Edward Berger’s Conclave and Roland Emmerich’s gladiator series Those About To Die.

Borgonzoni said the tax credit, introduced in 2016, “has become somewhat obsolete because of Covid which brought about so many changes and also the rise of the platforms.”

She said that last year between 800-900 productions were supported by the tax credit. “It’s a huge amount,” said Borgonzoni, noting that only a “minority” of these actually reach viewers.

“The tax credit is automatic but the wish is that it can be directed towards ever higher quality production,” said Borgonzoni.

She said that access criteria to the tax credit could be past recognition at film festivals, or a track record of “three films with a €1.5m budget in the past five years.”

“The problem is that some companies are just set up, make a film and then disappear. What we really want is to provide funding to people that are really working on films and to really promote the audiovisual industry.”

The Italian government sets aside €740m a year to fund the automatic tax credit, which is worth 40% of the eligible cost of the production.

Borgonzoni said that by setting clear rules, she hoped the Culture Ministry could secure more funding for the tax credit – from €740m to a total of €1bn.

Artificial intelligence

Regarding artificial intelligence, she said the tax credit would only be applicable “if you use for example a real screenwriter - flesh and blood – and not just processed materials.”

“We’re not against artificial intelligence but it needs rules,” said Borgonzoni.

She also said productions accessing tax credits and other forms of funding should specify in their credits if artificial intelligence has been used, ”so that the viewers have transparency about this and know what was made with AI.”

Tax credit premium

Borgonzoni said the revisions to the tax credit would also include a premium for international productions that employ above the line Italian talent, such as screenwriters, actors or directors.

Currently above the line expenses are considered eligible for the tax credit up to a maximum of 30% of the overall production cost, but discussions are taking place about raising this by 10% if the above the line talent is Italian.

An Italian politician and senator, Borgonzoni has been undersecretary of state at the ministry of culture since 2021, holding the position under previous prime minister Mario Draghi and current prime minister Giorgia Meloni. She had the same job from 2018-19 in the Giuseppe Conte government.

Borgonzoni said she hoped the audiovisual industry would “get more support” under Meloni’s government, which has been in power since October 2022. “What I can hope is that we are going to get going to get more funding, because this government has a more uniform idea about what cultural promotion should look like.”

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