Next month, Japan is starting a special program to help pay for the costs of making movies and TV shows in the country. This new plan is part of something they talked about before, where they’ll give back up to half of the money spent in Japan, but no more than about $6.66 million for each project.
This opportunity is for big projects like movies, TV series, or shows made for streaming services. To qualify, these projects need to spend at least $3.3 million directly on production in Japan, or have a total budget over $6.66 million and spend at least $1.33 million of it in Japan. Also, if a project is going to be shown in more than ten countries, it just needs to spend more than $1.33 million in Japan.
To apply for this money, projects need to work with a Japanese production company and apply during one of three time periods this year: from March 4 to 15, May 20 to June 7, or August 26 to September 13.
The costs that can get money back include things like paying Japanese businesses, people, local governments, or public groups for work done on making the film in Japan.
This funding program will stop when all the money set aside for it is used up, which might happen before all three application periods are over. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is in charge of the program, with help from the Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO) and the Japan Film Commission (JFC) to run it.
Japan Sets First Funding Round of Location Production Incentive
Japan Opens First Funding Round of Location Production Incentive Scheme
https://t.co/07LOj8an7t— Jamie AI (@freejamieai) February 27, 2024
Projects that want to get funding need to do a few things: help the Japanese movie and TV industry by hiring people or using studios in Japan, do their filming in Japan, show off the places in Japan where they filmed, and help make Japanese creations more popular worldwide. VIPO is also open to supporting projects that don’t meet all these criteria but still do a lot of good for Japan’s economy and its movie industry.
This new program builds on a smaller trial from 2019 and doesn’t say if money spent on post-production or visual effects in Japan counts, or how it deals with paying actors from other countries. Source
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