Europe The continent of

sounds and images !

Virginie NOUVELLEMonday, April 19th 2010

Regions and Cinema : A new deal

• Films commissions and Films funds• A trans-regional Network :

Some geography…

WalloniaWallonia

Let’s talk about Belgium…

� Wallimage created in 2001

� Bruxellimage added in 2009

� 2 « National » Funds since 1967

� 10.5 M inhabitants

� 513 screens

� 21.8 M entries

3 +1 Film Commissions

+ The TWIST Walloons Technologies of Images, Sounds and Text

Let’s speak very concretely !

Wallimage How does it work ?

WALLIMAGEWalloon Regional Investment Fund for the Audiovisual Industry

• Set up in 2001• 8 staff members• Investment Budget : € 5.5 million / year :

3.5M€ financed by the Walloon Region2M€ financed by the Walloon and the Brussels Capital Region

• A economic approach !

• A lot of movies…

Investing in films

• An average of € 250,000 (€ 400,000 = max)• With a minimal obligation of 100% in

audiovisual regional expenditures

• 60% of the investment in co-productiongiving a pro-rata access to the revenue

• 40% as a loan

• Possibility to reduce the loan proportionby increasing the regional expenditure

(+ 5% expenditure = - 1% loan)

A concrete example :« LE COUPERET » Costa Gavras

At the begining, a coproduction between France and Spain

A famous belgian producer became a part of the deal : « Les Films du Fleuve »

Total budget of the Film :€ 5,000,000

Wallimage Investment :€ 330,000

Walloons Audiovisual Expenditures : € 1,020,445 !

The figures !

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Where are made the works ?

In addition…

The Famous Belgian Tax Shelter

Belgian private money goes to the movies !

• A maximum of € 500,000 • 40% of the investment as a loan

• 60% in co-production• With a minimal obligation of 150% of this

investment in coproduction spent in Belgian expenditures

• The investing company can exempt its taxable profit to the amount of 150% of the total investment

=> Its real risk is only 9% of the money invested in the film

Can you see the differencebetween those two Euros ?

• Walloon euros are the same as Belgian euros• Wallimage is not working on a tax-scheme=> you can stackstack Tax-Shelter’s & Wallimage’s expenditures

Belgian Euro Walloon Euro

Thanks for your attention