Screen Flanders # 2016 by Screen Flanders

SCREEN FLANDERS 2016

CYNTHIA

and the CITY Cynthia Nixon discovered the joys of Antwerp while filming

A QUIET PASSION

at nearby AED Studios

MISSING IN ACTION AGAIN The cult BBC drama returns to Flanders for a second season LIVE ACTION GETS ANIMATED How Another Day of Life came down the pipeline to Flanders ON THE RIGHT TRACK Galaxy Studios and the Brussels Philharmonic bring it all back home + 66% EXPLAINED

SCREEN FLANDERS

CONTENT

PUPPY LOVE

DRIVING MISS EMILY

IN THE PIPELINE

MISSING IN ACTION (AGAIN)

BEIJING ESPRESSO

IN TUNE WITH THE TIMES

CAN HE FIX IT?

PLUS: THE SCREEN FLANDERS CO-PRODUCTION GUIDE

31 CONTENT

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PUPPY LOVE A childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s classic comes to the screen.

4 } PUPPY LOVE

Based on the book by the late Dutch children’s writer Sieb Posthuma, Rintje is a TV series about a mischievous puppy who gets into all kinds of trouble as, like any child, he tries to make sense of the world. Renamed Rusty in the Englishlanguage version of the books, Rintje makes his film debut in a co-production between Lemming Film in the Netherlands and Flandersbased production company A Private View. Bringing Rintje to life are leading Flemish stop-motion specialists Beast Animation, founded by Steven De Beul and Ben Tesseur (hence the name: BEn And STeven). The biggest challenge, say the directorial duo (who worked on the

animated feature A Town Called Panic and the TV series Dimitri), “was to preserve the unique atmosphere Sieb Posthuma creates in his illustrations and stories while adapting the concept to a pre-school TV series, and at the same time keeping production and budget limitations in mind. “Rintje’s world is cosy, nostalgic, spontaneous - and obviously hand-made,” they add. “We wanted to preserve the vivid lines and the use of colour as much as is possible in the world of stop-motion.” Rintje will be a 13-part series, with a script by Dutch writer Mieke de Jong, with all the stop-motion work done in Flanders.

PUPPY LOVE | 5

DRIVING MISS EMILY They weren’t sure to start with, says Roy Boulter, producer of Terence Davies’ new Emily Dickinson biopic. But they soon found shooting A Quiet Passion in Flanders to be “a totally positive experience”.

A QUIET PASSION DIRECTOR } TERENCE DAVIES SCREENWRITER } TERENCE DAVIES MAIN PRODUCER } HURRICANE FILMS (UK) CO-PRODUCER (BE) } POTEMKINO CAST } CYNTHIA NIXON, KEITH CARRADINE, JENNIFER EHLE KEY LOCAL SUPPLIERS } AED STUDIOS, CARAMBA DECOR/ SFX, LITES, CINE-QUA-NON, GALAXY STUDIOS, BULLETPROOF RENTALS BUDGET } €6,863,546 FINANCED IN BELGIUM } €2,478,000 GENRE } BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA SALES } DOUBLE DUTCH INTERNATIONAL RELEASE } SPRING 2016

6 } D R I V I N G M I S S E M I LY

It was the timber delivery that did it, says Roy Boulter, producer (with his partner Sol Papadopoulos) of the new Terence Davies film A Quiet Passion, about the life and work of 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson. The film recently completed six weeks shooting at AED Studios and on locations in Flanders. From the start, it proved the right choice: four days after Hurricane Films said ‘Yes’ to

AED, the timber to construct the set was already in the workshops. And two of those days were a weekend. Boulter admits that he, Papadopoulos and Davies initially hesitated between working at AED or shooting the whole film in Massachusetts, near to the house (now a museum) in Amherst, where Dickinson lived and died. After all, shooting in the US would give them access to a brand new, stateof-the-art complex, New England Studios, built by a group of wealthy supermarket families. But it was the crews that won them over, along with the financial incentives that Flanders - through Screen Flanders and the Belgian Federal Tax Shelter - is able to offer. In the end, just over a third

} EMMA BELL (YOUNG EMILY DICKINSON) AND DIRECTOR TERENCE DAVIES

} FAMILY TIES: CYNTHIA NIXON AS EMILY AND KEITH CARRADINE AS HER FATHER EDWARD

(€2.5 million) of the €6.9 million budget was financed in Belgium, with €300,000 of it raised by Belgian co-producer Potemkino from Screen Flanders. “Sol and I spent a couple of weeks agonising over where to go. Terence ultimately said ‘It’s up to you’,” says Boulter. “Belgium was closer and we knew that it would be a crew that had worked together before and had worked in those studios, whereas the New England Studios would have been a crew that had never worked there.” UP AND RUNNING They eventually made the decision on a Thursday, and were really impressed by how quickly the Flemish production team swung into action: by the time Boulter and Papadopoulos flew in on Monday, the production office was up and running; the timber was in; and building about to start. “We were just as impressed with the heads of department,” adds Boulter. “The line

producer [Paul De Ruijter] and the 1st AD [Johan Ivens] had worked together before and they assembled a fantastic team. I don’t think we would have got that speed and expertise as quickly anywhere else.” A Quiet Passion shot mainly interiors in Flanders, but the production extended its stay in the region (six of the film’s seven-week production schedule ended up being shot there) to do some exterior work as well. “Initially,” says Boulter, “we were only shooting interiors, but because of the scale of the production, when the 1st AD came on board and was doing the schedule, he said ‘Really, just try to do something in Belgium for financial reasons and for scheduling reasons’. So we managed to shoot four days of exteriors.” Some blue-screen work was done in Kapellen, north of Antwerp, and the opening scene in a schoolhouse and a scene in an old opera house just outside Brussels were also added.

“They assembled a fantastic team. I don’t think we would have got that speed and expertise as quickly anywhere else” Roy Boulter

D R I V I N G M I S S E M I LY | 7

“The subsidies are more available, the support is better and as soon as we made the decision [to shoot in Flanders], we realised we had made the right one” Roy Boulter

} TAKING THE AIR: CYNTHIA NIXON AS EMILY AND JENNIFER EHLE AS VINNIE DICKINSON IN A QUIET PASSION

AN EXACT REPLICA The main set, though, was the Dickinson house, which exactly reproduced the one in Amherst on the AED soundstage. “Merijn [Sep, the production designer, see also p.11] and I had been over to the Dickinson Museum,” recalls Boulter. “We’d been sort of courting them for three or four years, convincing them that the film was something they could support. They provided us with the floor plans and material samples, and Merijn recreated the whole house on the soundstage in Belgium. It was remarkable. What was really impressive is that he didn’t just accurately capture the physical dimensions of the house: he somehow captured the spirit of it.”

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A Quiet Passion marks the third time Boulter and Papadopoulos have worked with Davies, starting with the essay film Of Time and the City (2008) about their home town of Liverpool. Next came Sunset Song, an adaptation of a Scottish novel that Davies had struggled for 15 years to bring to the screen. Premiering in Toronto in September 2015, the film had been a UK/New Zealand/Luxembourg co-production, and making it had been every bit as difficult as one might expect. “Everything about that shoot was miserable,” says Boulter, “whereas everything about the shoot in Belgium was a pleasure. In the second week, Terence declared that he was the happiest he’d been in 40 years

HURRICANE FILMS* 2006 } UNDER THE MUD 2008 } OF TIME AND THE CITY 2015 } SUNSET SONG 2015 } A QUIET PASSION

* selected filmography

} SOL PAPADOPOULOS (LEFT) AND ROY BOULTER OF HURRICANE FILMS © ALEX HURST

professionally. Well, the words ‘happy’ and ‘Terence’ are rarely used in the same sentence, certainly not when he’s in production!” Boulter had been slightly apprehensive about bringing an American cast headed by Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle and Keith Carradine - to Belgium for six weeks, but concedes he needn’t have worried. “They could have taken a weekend to fly home but none of them did. Jennifer and Cynthia just fell in love with the place.” Indeed, the local press captured shots of Nixon - a Primetime Emmy-winner for Sex and the City - out shopping in Antwerp.

help them make the film, rather than throwing obstacles in their path, as the US Department of Immigration had done when they explored the possibility of shooting in Massachusetts. “All the work that went into applying for visas for the non-American cast and crew to fly over to America was just a nightmare,” he says, “whereas the only problem we had with the Belgian visa was explaining to the agents that you didn’t need one. We had to get written confirmation from the Embassy that no one would get turned away when they arrived. You work under three months in Belgium and you don’t need a work visa. It makes it so much easier, compared to the red tape that surrounds shooting in the US. “The subsidies are more available, the support is better and as soon as we made the decision [to shoot in Flanders], we realised we had made the right one,” concludes Boulter. “Everything we needed was there. It was, I would say, a totally positive experience on every level and we fully intend to shoot in Belgium again. There are a couple of projects we’re looking at that we could shoot there and we may even do post-production on a future film. A Quiet Passion has been a real joy.”

FLANDERS VS. MASSACHUSETTS Boulter, meanwhile, fell in love with a system that did everything it could to

D R I V I N G M I S S E M I LY | 9

advertentie

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR

MERIJN SEP His website promises ‘décor à la carte’. So what’s on the menu for top Flemish production designer Merijn Sep? HOW DID YOU TRAIN? I studied art. I had a very vocational education with practical courses on how to paint scenery - that kind of thing. HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN THE INDUSTRY? My first big credit as a set builder was Shades, a Flemish movie with Mickey Rourke. But the international co-productions started after Parade’s End. With every project you get new colleagues who show you different ways of doing things. It was a very rewarding experience working with [Parade’s End production designer] Martin Childs and his team. IS IT DIFFERENT WORKING WITH CREWS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES? It’s all about breaking the ice and finding a good way to share and especially to communicate. But the structural organisation can be different each time. When I worked with the French, I had many deep discussions about everything; with a German crew, they can be very attached to their structure; and the English always have a Plan B!

} A QUIET PASSION

That’s what is so interesting about working with people coming from everywhere: everybody has their own techniques and ways of doing things. Most of the time, it’s only for the best. HOW DID YOU SET ABOUT RECREATING EMILY DICKINSON’S HOUSE IN A STUDIO FOR A QUIET PASSION? Instead of chopping up the whole house and having the studio filled with different sets, I chose to keep the basic layout. We enlarged it between 10% and 15% to make it practical for shooting a movie. In the 1850s, Americans were really trying to create their own feel of what an interior should be like. That is something we spent a lot of energy trying to get right. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE TO DATE? For Storm Force, we built a Sea King helicopter which could be hoisted in the air on a crane and have all the walls taken out… We provided them with something multi-functional which looked good as well. Parade’s End was also very impressive due to the size of the project. And, of course, what I’m working on now, Iron Sky 2, we’ve been building spaceships and strange sets in the AED studios close to Antwerp: there are no fantasy limits on this production!

MERIJN SEP

(°29/08/1975)*

2006 } NIGHTSHIFT 2011 } NORTH SEA TEXAS 2012 } PARADE’S END 2013 } LOS FLAMENCOS 2014 } LABYRINTHUS 2014 } THE MISSING I 2015 } ME & KAMINSKI 2015 } A QUIET PASSION 2015 } LES COWBOYS 2017 } IRON SKY: THE COMING RACE

*selected filmography

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR MERIJN SEP

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IN THE PIPELINE How filmmakers in five countries came together to make a part-liveaction, part-animated film based on Another Day of Life, Ryszard Kapuściński’s first-hand account of the civil war in Angola…

ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE DIRECTORS } RAUL DE LA FUENTE & DAMIAN NENOW SCREENWRITER } RAUL DE LA FUENTE, AMAIA REMIREZ, DAVE WEBER AND NIALL JOHNSON MAIN PRODUCERS } PLATIGE FILMS (PL) KANAKI (ES) CO-PRODUCER (BE) } WALKING THE DOG CAST } TBA KEY LOCAL SUPPLIERS } WALKING THE DOG BUDGET } €5,5 MILLION FINANCED IN BELGIUM } €873,850 GENRE } HYBRID ANIMATION SALES } INDIE SALES RELEASE } AUTUMN 2016

12 } I N T H E P I P E L I N E

In September 1975, the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński, who by then had been covering the world’s trouble spots for a decade, paid his first visit to Angola, where a murderous civil war was being fought between two former liberation movements, UNITA and the FNLA. Exposed to constant danger, he travelled through the country for three

months, describing his experiences in a book, Another Day of Life, published the following year. Now, almost 40 years later, that book is being turned into a film which ambitiously combines live-action, motion-capture and traditional animation footage. Starting out as a Spanish/Polish co-production, it is due for delivery in the autumn of next year, two-and-a-half years after production began. “From day one it was always envisaged as a hybrid film incorporating liveaction images and an animation story,” explains Ole Wendorff-Østergaard, a Danish producer who moved to Warsaw in 2008, just as the final pieces in the financing of

} KEY ART: ANIMATORS MATHIEU VIERENDEEL (STANDING) AND XANDER CLERCKX AT WALKING THE DOG

} ON THE ROAD IN ANGOLA: ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE

Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist were being assembled. He married, settled there and joined animation house Platige. “When we started writing the story, we were hoping it would be 50/50, but it soon became apparent that the story we wanted to make was a character arc of Kapuściński which we couldn’t realise in live-action. It meant we had a need to go for 75% animation, and the cost jump in that meant that we needed to include more countries.’ A FIVE-WAY PRODUCTION Joining Platige and Spain’s Kanaki Films, the latter the originator of the project, were Germany (Wüste Film) and Flemish animation house Walking The Dog (see page 15), with additional motion-capture work done by Cologne-based Animationsfabrik. “Hungary is also in,” notes WendorffØstergaard, “so it’s actually five countries but a four-way coproduction, because they couldn’t

raise the full 10%. We got permission from the Polish Film Institute and the Hungarian Film Institute to include them in the Polish side of the financing, because there is also Hungarian tax money in it.” Polish filmmaker Damian Nenow shares the directing with Spain’s Raúl de la Fuente. “We don’t like to say there is a live-action director and an animation director,” says WendorffØstergaard, “but there was a need for two directors working together. This, of course, creates a new financing opportunity because you have a Spanish director and a Polish director, so the film funds support us more than if it was a minority co-production. And as we are 75% animation, we qualify throughout the world - all festivals - as an animation film. This is important because otherwise we would be put into a documentary pocket, which is a very thin one to get into.”

“The European funding bodies that work really well are the ones where you don’t hear anything. No news is excellent news when you are a delegate producer!” Ole WendorffØstergaard

I N T H E P I P E L I N E | 13

“From day one it was always envisaged as a hybrid film incorporating live-action images and an animation story” Ole WendorffØstergaard

A MANY-LAYERED CAKE Walking The Dog were brought in because of their impressive track record and their experience in handling co-productions where work is being done in several different locations. “There are many layers in our animation cake,” says WendorffØstergaard. “The concept art was done here [in Poland], in Hungary and in Germany. The pre-visualisation was also done here, in Germany and in Hungary. And then all the more technically complicated work - the compositing, lighting, shading and rendering - is being done in Flanders.” Walking The Dog, the company’s co-founder Eric Goossens explains, is particularly experienced in what is known as ‘the pipeline’. “The whole structure from the beginning to the end needs to be set up so that all the partners can connect at the right moment with the right software and the right naming of all the data,” he says. “If you don’t work out this pipeline from the beginning, it becomes a nightmare.” Walking The Dog’s other significant contribution to Another Day of Life,

} WORK-IN-PROGRESS AT WALKING THE DOG } OLE WENDORFFØSTERGAARD OF PLATIGE FILMS

PLATIGE FILMS* 2009 } ZERO 2009 } LASKA 2014 } AMBITION 2015 } FLY FOR YOUR LIFE 2016 } ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE

* selected filmography

14 } I N T H E P I P E L I N E

of course, was access to additional funding, which they raised from Screen Flanders, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Belgian Tax Shelter - a process which, says Wendorff-Østergaard, has gone very smoothly. “It has been really wonderful. The Tax Shelter is a tested institution which has existed now for around seven or eight years. I’ve worked with other tax funds when they were just up and running, and to get a clear answer out of them is sometimes difficult. We have not experienced these problems in Belgium and, while I’m not in direct contact with the VAF and Screen Flanders, I’ve had enough dealings with European funding bodies as part of my financing schemes to know that the ones that work really well are the ones where you don’t hear anything. No news is excellent news when you are a delegate producer! It means that things are running like they should. The requests that we have had for delivering material have been straightforward normal business procedures. It’s been working excellently.”

BARKING TIME … WHERE FLEMISH ANIMATION HOUSE WALKING THE DOG FITS INTO THE PICTURE. Based in Genk and Brussels and set up at the turn of the millennium by Eric Goossens and Anton Roebben, two animation producers who were “tired of working with a company and wanted to go freelance”, the company owes its name to what Roebben saw out of his office window when planning the company: a man walking a dog. “I thought ‘What a bad name for a production company,” admits Goossens. “But when we were dealing with banks and other institutions, they were saying ‘Wow, that’s a really nice name’.” Since then, the company has notched up an impressive filmography, stretching from The Triplets of Belleville in 2003 via The Secret of Kells (2009) and Ari Folman’s The Congress (2013) to the current Ryszard Kapuściński project (see pages 12-14). It has a staff of 15, but at any given moment there are usually 40-50 people working on various projects. When they were producing Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart, staffing swelled to 180. Voted European Animation Producer of the Year at 2014’s Cartoon Movie Awards, Walking The Dog is in the forefront of the burgeoning Flemish animation business, regularly contributing its expertise to international

} JACK AND THE CUCKOO-CLOCK HEART (TOP)

co-productions like Another Day of Life. “We chose in the beginning to be a boutique studio and to be very selective in our projects,” says Goossens. “On average, we are busy with one film and a half every year.” Although they have produced - and will continue to produce - films for children, Goossens insists that Another Day of Life “is an adult movie and as such is extremely welcome in our company. We have done a film about female abuse in Spain, so it’s more and more in the air that animation is used to tell stories for adults, like Waltz With Bashir. That is one of the main reasons why we were enthusiastic about this project.”

} THE CONGRESS

WALKING THE DOG* 2003 } THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE 2009 } THE SECRET OF KELLS 2011 } A MONSTER IN PARIS 2012 } PINOCCHIO 2012 } THE DAY OF THE CROWS 2013 } THE CONGRESS 2014 } JACK AND THE CUCKOO-CLOCK HEART 2014 } LITTLE HOUDINI 2014 } KIKA & BOB: THE FLIGHT OF THE PIGEON 2015 } ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE 2015/6 } RICHARD THE STORK 2015/6 } THE LAST SUMMER WITH MUM 2015/6 } ROBBI, TOBBI UND DAS FLIEWATÜÜT

* selected filmography

I N T H E P I P E L I N E | 15

MISSING IN ACTION (AGAIN) The producers of cult TV series The Missing were so impressed with the set-up they found in Flanders that they’re returning for a second helping. Actually, counting The White Queen, make that a third.

THE WHITE QUEEN DIRECTORS } JAMES KENT, JAMIE PAYNE, COLIN TEAGUE SCREENWRITER } BASED ON PHILIPPA GREGORY’S ‘THE COUSIN’S WAR’, ADAPTED BY EMMA FROST

It started with the historic houses, squares and canals of Bruges, but what drew the producers of an Emmynominated British TV series back again (and again) was a very modern combination of production expertise and attractive tax breaks. Major UK TV producer Company Pictures - whose credits range from the groundbreaking series Shameless to epic period dramas like Wolf Hall - first

crossed the channel with The White Queen (2013), which is set in 15thcentury England and which found its perfect location in the picturepostcard Flemish city. “We were able to get locations which we wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere else,” says Willow Grylls, who was at Company Pictures at the time, and has since moved on with partner Charlie Pattinson to found New Pictures. That first experience of working in Flanders “just made more sense - we felt we were able to get much more production value all around by shooting there. In fact, we wouldn’t have been able to shoot the show in the UK; but it made financial sense in Belgium.’

} AT WAR (TOP LEFT) AND PEACE: REBECCA FERGUSON AS ELIZABETH IN THE WHITE QUEEN

CO-PRODUCERS (BE) } CZAR TV, BNP PARIBAS FORTIS FILM FINANCE CAST } MAX IRONS, JAMES FRAIN, REBECCA FERGUSON, JANET MCTEER, VEERLE BAETENS KEY LOCAL SUPPLIERS } DECOSFEER, CINE-QUA-NON, LITES, CARUUR GENRE } HISTORICAL DRAMA SERIES SALES } ALL3MEDIA INTERNATIONAL

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MAIN PRODUCER } PRODUCED FOR THE BBC BY COMPANY PICTURES (UK)

The White Queen used Flemish talent - notably actress Veerle Baetens, star of Belgian Oscar nominee The Broken Circle Breakdown - and drew on the expertise of more than a hundred local crew members and suppliers. It also raised around 17% of its budget through the VAF/Media Fund, Screen Flanders and the Belgian Tax Shelter. NOT JUST MONEY But it wasn’t just a question of money, insists Grylls. “The truth is, some of the costs in Belgium are actually higher. And, depending on which way the Euro goes, it’s not necessarily cheaper. But once you factor in the Tax Shelter it definitely made sense to shoot in Flanders. I think overall, in terms of hard production costs, it was maybe 15% cheaper doing it in Belgium.” The decision proved a wise one in other respects as well, and led to two more series being shot in

Belgium, even though the UK now has its own tax incentive. Indeed, the experience with The White Queen was so positive that the producers, after toying with the idea of shooting the series in France where the story was set and deciding that “the figures just didn’t stack up”, returned to the region with The Missing, an entirely contemporary story which had no need for the beauty of Bruges. The series is about an English couple, Tony and Emily (James Nesbitt and Frances O’Connor), searching with increasing desperation for their son who has disappeared on holiday in France, helped by a determined and obsessive French cop, Julien (Tchéky Karyo). Set over two time periods - the time of the actual disappearance; and years later, when Tony, now separated from Emily but still grimly determined to find the truth, returns to France and pursues various leads, aided by the now-retired Julien.

“The crews are absolutely fantastic, incredibly professional. They really care about the work they’re doing and it’s a proper set-up” Willow Grylls

M I S S I N G I N A C T I O N ( A G A I N ) | 17

FLANDERS FOCUS prem niene nem ut o

THE MISSING I DIRECTORS } TOM SHANKLAND SCREENWRITER } HARRY AND JACK WILLIAMS MAIN PRODUCER } PRODUCED FOR THE BBC BY COMPANY PICTURES & NEW PICTURES (UK) CO-PRODUCERS (BE) } CZAR TV, VRT, RTBF, BNP PARIBAS FORTIS FILM FINANCE CAST } JAMES NESBITT, FRANCES O’CONNOR, TCHÉKY KARYO, JASON FLEMYNG, TITUS DE VOOGDT, EMILIE DEQUENNE, JOHAN LEYSEN KEY LOCAL SUPPLIERS } LITES, EASTWOOD & BRENT, CINE-QUA-NON, JULES LOGISTICS, WORK@DREAMS, CARUUR GENRE } DRAMA SERIES SALES } ALL3MEDIA INTERNATIONAL

THE MISSING II

(IN DEVELOPMENT) DIRECTORS } BEN CHANAN

SCREENWRITER } HARRY AND JACK WILLIAMS MAIN PRODUCER } PRODUCED FOR THE BBC BY NEW PICTURES (UK) CO-PRODUCER (BE) } CZAR TV CAST } TCHÉKY KARYO – OTHER CAST TBC GENRE } DRAMA SERIES SALES } ALL3MEDIA INTERNATIONAL

} THE SEARCHERS: TCHÉKY KARYO AS JULIEN BAPTISTE, FRANCES O’CONNOR AS EMILY AND JAMES NESBITT AS TONY IN THE FIRST SERIES OF THE MISSING

Based on a documentary about a real-life French detective who devoted years to investigating a similar unsolved disappearance, The Missing was one of the must-see series on British television in the autumn of 2014, and has since been shown in the US, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Finland and Germany. Grylls, who was one of several producers, found the production process so rewarding that New Pictures is returning to Belgium for a second series. PROFESSIONAL CREWS “The crews are absolutely fantastic,” she says. “Really, really good, incredibly professional. They really care about the work they’re doing and it’s a proper set-up. It’s very efficient and in all respects very close to what we might be used to in the UK. There’s a thriving film and TV industry there, so it’s not like you’ve got a small production pool. They are extremely

18 } M I S S I N G I N A C T I O N ( A G A I N )

good at what they do.” The Missing, like The White Queen, made use of local crew - and cast, too. “The other thing I think we hugely benefited from is that there is also a large pool of brilliant Flemish actors,” says Grylls. “Titus de Voogdt is an amazing actor. I think as far as British audiences are concerned, he’s one of the undiscovered gems of The Missing.” A second series, she says, was always on the cards but will tell a totally different story. “Jack and Harry [Williams, the writers] always had another story that they wanted to write, but it isn’t connected to the end of the first one: it’s totally standalone, a new story. Jimmy Nesbitt is not coming back. The ending of series one was the ending that we all intended - an ending of that character. It’s something that we’d always talked about and we had a script. Obviously with the success of series one, it made sense to go again.”

CZAR’S A STAR The Missing II is due to go into production in February 2016 for a 20week shoot, and will see New Pictures once again working with Flemish production company Czar TV and producer Eurydice Gysel. “I think Czar are absolutely brilliant,” says Grylls. “Eurydice is fantastic and we really

love working with them. For anything that it makes sense to do in that part of the world, we would always consider going back.” Indeed, what may have originally been a marriage of convenience seems to have developed into a full-blown love affair. “Czar are not just a brilliant service provider whom we trust absolutely,” adds Grylls, “but their creative take on things is very onpoint. They have got great taste and that translates to their taste in DOPs and creatives and gaffers and all sorts of things. It’s not just a question that coming to Flanders allows us to close the finance to make the show that we wanted. Working with a company like Czar gave us the additionality of an enhanced kind of creative vision for the show. We would not have had the show we had without their involvement.” Also helping is the revamp of the Tax Shelter arrangements. “Last time, under the old regime, it was much harder,” she says. “They required several things that made it more difficult, but since it’s been restructured I think it’s going to be more straightforward.”

“Working with Czar gave us an enhanced kind of creative vision. We would not have had the show we had without their involvement” Willow Grylls

} WILLOW GRYLLS OF NEW PICTURES } FLEMISH ACTOR TITUS DE VOOGDT IN THE MISSING I

COMPANY PICTURES* 2013 } THE VILLAGE I 2013 } THE WHITE QUEEN 2013 } MOONFLEET 2014 } THE MISSING I 2014 } THE VILLAGE II 2014 } NEW WORLDS 2015 } WOLF HALL

NEW PICTURES* 2014 } THE MISSING I 2015 } INDIAN SUMMERS 2016 } THE MISSING II * selected filmography

MISSING IN ACTION (AGAIN)

| 19

COFFEE DIRECTOR } CRISTIANO BORTONE SCREENWRITER } CRISTIANO BORTONE, ANNALAURA CIERVO, MATTHEW THOMPSON, SHI MINGHUA, SHI MINGHUI MAIN PRODUCER } ORISA PRODUZIONI (IT) CO-PRODUCER (BE) } SAVAGE FILM CAST } DARIO AITA, MIRIAM DALMAZIO, BABAK KARIMI, XIAODONG GUO KEY LOCAL SUPPLIERS } LITES, ATOMINC., SCREEM INC., ACE IMAGE FACTORY GENRE } DRAMA BUDGET } €2,450,649 FINANCED IN BELGIUM } €735,000

Bart Van Langendonck

22 } B E I J I N G E S P R E S S O

How Savage Film brewed up Coffee, Flanders’ first co-production with China.

FLANDERS FOCUS Enjoyed in the Middle East since the mid-15th century, coffee has been a way of bringing people together for half a millennium. Fitting, then, that Coffee should be the first-ever co-production between Flanders and China. And, as a co-production, Coffee will by-pass all the usual barriers to theatrical distribution in China. “They have a market of more than a billion viewers,” grins Bart Van Langendonck of production company Savage Film. Developed in Italy - the third corner in this three-way co-production - by producer/writer/director Cristiano Bortone, a life-long Sinophile who

teaches at the Beijing Film Academy - Coffee filters together a trio of separate stories. Barista Renzo and his girlfriend Gaia, already struggling to survive in recession-hit Italy, get caught up in the theft of a special shipment of coffee. In Belgium, Iraqi refugee Hamed discovers some disturbing facts about the hooded figure who has broken into his pawn shop. And in Yunnan province in China, Fei has to choose between stopping production in his factory or risk contaminating the local coffee crop. “It’s really Babel-like,” says Van Langendonck, whose recent successes have included local Flemish noir The Ardennes and Sundance documentary The Land of the Enlightened. “There are characters in Italy, characters in China and characters in Belgium and they are all kind of intertwined.”

} TROUBLE BREWING: A SCENE FROM THE ITALIAN SEGMENT OF COFFEE © FRANCESCA CASCIARRI

“You never know what you’re going to run into in China, but you have to adapt the script a little for the Chinese taste”

BEIJING ESPRESSO

} BULLETS AND BEANS: ENNIO FANTASTICHINI AS RENZO IN COFFEE

The Italian scenes shot in August 2015; the Chinese scenes in mid-November; and the Belgian cameras rolled in January 2016, with Babak Karimi who played the interrogator in Ashgar Fahradi’s Oscar-winning Iranian film A Separation - in the lead. The Belgian story was originally set in the UK at the time of the 2011 riots, explains Van Langendonck, and subsequently reached him by way of production company Eyeworks, with which Savage Film is associated. “When he co-produced the Eyeworks’ film Marina, Cristiano heard of the interesting financing possibilities in Flanders and experienced the high standard of Flemish crews,” he says. Because of the company’s track record with international co-productions, the project eventually landed at Savage Film. Finance was raised in Flanders through the Screen Flanders Economic Fund and the federal Tax Shelter. “In terms of creative input, the whole crew for the Flemish shoot - except for the director, DOP and his assistant - are Flemish, including the heads of department,” adds Van Langendonck.” Ironically, since both Belgium and

Italy are liberal democracies and China is a one-party state, most of the European funding - including the €735,000 raised in Belgium - is public money, while the Chinese contribution is all private equity investment from Shanghai’s China Blue. There have been no hitches so far. “You never know what you’re going to run into in China,” says Van Langendonck (who has experience there with Bram Van Paesschen’s documentary I’m New Here), “but you have to adapt the script a little for the Chinese taste, let’s say.“ In fact, the only obstacle turned out to be at the Brussels end, relating to footage of rioting in Belgium which was supposed to show up on TV in the Chinese part of the story. “I was told that we couldn’t use the images of the riots from our national broadcaster,” says line producer Xavier Rombaut. “We are only allowed to show very soft images, like the airport with planes that are not flying - something like that. We can’t show people fighting on the streets.” “The Chinese want the world to be a nice and peaceful place,” deadpans Van Langendonck.

} BART VAN LANGENDONCK © BART DEWAELE

SAVAGE FILM* 2011 } BULLHEAD 2011 } EMPIRE OF DUST 2012 } ANTON CORBIJN INSIDE OUT 2014 } LAST HIJACK 2014 } GARDENIA - BEFORE THE LAST CURTAIN FALLS 2014 } ALLELUIA 2014 } LABYRINTHUS 2014 } LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO 2015 } GALLOPING MIND 2015 } KEEPER 2015 } THE ARDENNES 2016 } DIAMANT NOIR 2016 } THE LAND OF THE ENLIGHTENED 2016 } COFFEE

* selected filmography

BEIJING ESPRESSO

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advertentie

IN TUNE WITH THE TIMES How a link-up between a top postproduction facility and a symphony orchestra has helped establish Flanders as a key player in the world of film music.

Emerging out of a long-standing but initially ad hoc arrangement between the Brussels Philharmonic, sound post-production house Galaxy Studios and Film Fest Gent, the only international film festival to focus mainly on music, Scoring Flanders

has, in just a few short years, made Flanders a major player in the world of film music. Scores they have worked on range from major movies like Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, Oscar-winner The Artist and Toronto 2015 premiere High Rise to prestige TV series such as Parade’s End and The White Queen. “We have returning clients who specifically want to work with us, so that’s good news for us and for our business as a very young film nation,” says Ralph Broos, Galaxy’s COO.

“In the last five years we’ve produced something like 120 scores with numerous international and European clients” Ralph Broos

} THE BRUSSELS PHILHARMONIC CONDUCTED BY DIRK BROSSÉ

IN TUNE WITH THE TIMES

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“We have returning clients who specifically want to work with us, so that’s good news for us and for our business, as a very young film nation” Ralph Broos

“In the last five years we’ve produced something like 120 scores with numerous international and European clients, so it grows, you know?” “Ralph and I have known each other for quite a few years,” adds Gunther Broucke, the Philharmonic’s general manager, “and we have done a few soundtracks in the past, a couple of which have had tremendous success. We did The Aviator, which won a Golden Globe; and we did the soundtrack for The Artist, so we learned that there was a market out there and competence within our organisation.” What started almost as a hobby, in other words, has become a serious business. AUDIO TECHNOLOGY Both companies are fully developed as separate entities. Galaxy is a 5.000-square-metre post-production facility which can do audio post, music and film post. The studio is at the forefront of audio technology, embracing the patented Auro-3D® immersive sound format, also adopted by most major Hollywood studios, with the earliest being Lucasfilm’s

Skywalker Sound and DreamWorks Studio. A major leap was taken in 2011, with the Barco partnership, rolling out the Auro 11.1 by Barco, a digital cinema application embraced by Bollywood and increasingly popular in Hollywood. To date over 120 international movie titles have been released and 550 theatres are installed or committed worldwide. Red Tails (2011) was the first major movie to use the format; most recently, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Sicario and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 have used this immersive breakthrough in audio as well. The Brussels Philharmonic, meanwhile, like any major symphony orchestra, has a day job: bringing music to audiences around the world. “We do something like 80 concerts a year,” says Broucke, “and we tour all over Europe; we’re going to Japan and the US; we have a residency in London; so we are a fullyfledged symphony orchestra playing everything from Bach to the music of our time. “But we have always had a specific interest - I don’t know why - in film

} THE SCORING OF PARADE’S END AT GALAXY STUDIOS © LOCATION FLANDERS

26 } I N T U N E W I T H T H E T I M E S

“The concept of having everything and everyone under one roof is brilliant” Oliver Hirschbiegel

} AUROTORIUM AURO 3D DUBBING STAGE AT THE GALAXY STUDIOS

music. That was what brought us to Film Fest Gent and the film music concerts. We have had the opportunity to work with people like Howard Shore, Alberto Iglesias and Alexandre Desplat.” UNSTOPPABLE But if the two are individually powerful, united under the Scoring Flanders banner they are pretty much unstoppable. “By teaming up with Galaxy Studios, we had the opportunity to develop the whole recording soundtrack here in Flanders to a very high level,” says Broucke, who helped organise a major promotional initiative for Galaxy and the orchestra in Hollywood last summer. A key element in the whole scoring operation is Galaxy’s own highquality streaming technology which allows producers and composers interactively to monitor recordings from a distance and has become one of the cornerstones of the Galaxy/ Brussels Philharmonic link-up. In Galaxy’s post services, the eyecatcher is the new ‘AuroTorium’,

a state-of-the art dubbing and preview theatre built to meet the increased demand for Auro-3D in particular, described by LA-based German director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall, The Invasion) as ”the best mixing and post experience for me - ever”. “The concept of having everything and everyone under one roof is brilliant,” says Hirschbiegel. And there are financial advantages as well. “We start from being a facilitator,” says Broos, “but we have in our group all sorts of possibilities for film financing to film production, to help a producer of films in Belgium or Flanders.” Somewhere along the way, of course, the Philharmonic has had to adapt to the film industry’s way of working. “We had basically to change our scheduling dramatically,” Broucke admits. “With the orchestra, I’m planning for 2018/19. But in the film industry, if you get a call to make a soundtrack, it might be that you’re talking about a very short period.” How short? “48 hours in one instance,” he chuckles, naming no names.

SCORING FLANDERS* 2012 } PARADE’S END COMPOSER DIRK BROSSÉ 2013 } LA MARCHE COMPOSER STEPHEN WARBECK 2013 } THE WHITE QUEEN COMPOSER JOHN LUNN 2014 } WIPLALA COMPOSER ANDRÉ DZIEZUK 2014 } KLONDIKE COMPOSER ADRIAN JOHNSTON 2014 } ASTERIX: THE MANSION OF THE GODS COMPOSER PHILIPPE ROMBI 2015 } A ROYAL NIGHT OUT COMPOSER PAUL ENGLISHBY 2015 } MICHIEL DE RUYTER COMPOSER TREVOR MORRIS 2015 } CAFARD COMPOSER HANS HELEWAUT 2015 } HIGH RISE COMPOSER CLINT MANSELL 2015 } ROBINSON CRUSOE COMPOSER RAMIN DJAWADI *selected filmography

IN TUNE WITH THE TIMES

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CAN HE FIX IT? MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN DIRECTOR } TIM BURTON SCREENWRITER } JANE GOLDMAN, BASED ON THE BEST-SELLING CHILDREN’S BOOK MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN BY RANSOM RIGGS PRODUCTION COMPANY } CHERNIN ENTERTAINMENT CAST } EVA GREEN, ASA BUTTERFIELD, ELLA PURNELL, CHRIS O’DOWD, ALLISON JANNEY, TERENCE STAMP, KIM DICKENS, RUPERT EVERETT, JUDI DENCH AND SAMUEL L. JACKSON GENRE } FANTASY/ADVENTURE KEY LOCAL SUPPLIERS } BULLETPROOF CUPID, BOXRENTALS RELEASE } CHRISTMAS 2016

28 } C A N H E F I X I T ?

Yes he can! Wim Goossens of Bulletproof Cupid provided the production services when the Tim Burton film Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children came to shoot for three weeks in Flanders last summer.

Criss-crossing Belgium from film set to film set in his red Alfa Romeo, Wim Goossens clocks up 45,000km a year - not bad in a country which measures just over 200km from one end to the other. He co-owns Bulletproof Cupid, a film production company that also provides full production services, location services and pretty much anything else a foreign producer may require. Additionally he also manages an equipment rental company. His email address - wim@makeithappen. eu.com - says it all. “I know what to do and people know how to find me,” is how he puts it. Among those to track him down recently was Hollywood-based Chernin Entertainment looking for a location for the new Tim Burton film

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which is due to be released by Fox on Christmas Day 2016. The film stars Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Ella Purnell, Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney, Terence Stamp, Kim Dickens, Rupert Everett, Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson. Based on a bestselling children’s book by Ransom Riggs, it follows 17-year-old Jacob (Butterfield) as he travels to a remote Welsh island where some scary stuff has been going on. The producers approached Goossens when the original location for the Home - the abandoned Chateau Notteboom near Antwerp, which supposedly inspired the book - had fallen through. His assistant and location scout Annabel François came up with another Gothic folly nearby, the Torenhof Castle in Brasschaat, which turned out to be perfect. Why? “Well, first of all the owner was willing to co-operate,” chuckles Goossens. “But you could also sense something a bit weird about that place. It’s close to the city but it seems like it’s hidden in the woods far, far away

from everything. The architecture was right: the pond around it, the garden everything.” There were other benefits, too. “There were major roadworks during the whole period we needed which meant that the road out front was closed off during shooting, but not specifically because of us, which was great.” And there were also, inevitably, challenges. “There was a school festival which had rock shows and a DJ set and things like that planned on a field right next to the location on our first shooting day which we found out quite late because everybody forgot to tell us,” says Goossens, who quickly donned his Mr Fix-It hat. “We sat down with the local mayor,

who was very open to finding a solution, and then we approached the school and tried to find something that could work for all parties. In the end, we found them another location and moved the whole festival!” Before Miss Peregrine, Goossens had worked on other Hollywood movies, including The Fifth Estate and Guardians of the Galaxy, and claims to prefer what he calls “the Anglo-Saxon way of working”. “It’s not just because they have more money - although of course they do,” he says. “It’s not like you get a big bag of it and you can do whatever you want: you still have to be creative. But there’s something about the hierarchy and the professionalism. I like it very much.”

“I know what to do and people know how to find me” Wim Goossens

} TORENHOF CASTLE IN BRASSCHAAT © ONROEREND ERFGOED – INVENTARIS BOUWKUNDIG ERFGOED ID 12784

} WIM GOOSSENS OF BULLETPROOF CUPID

WIM GOOSSENS* 2010 } DER VERLORENE VATER 2010 } OXYGEN 2012 } TIME OF MY LIFE 2012 } OFFLINE 2012 } CLAN 2013 } THE GIRL WITH THE NINE WIGS 2013 } MR. MORGAN’S LAST LOVE 2013 } THE FIFTH ESTATE 2014 } GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2015 } THE TEAM 2015 } MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

* selected filmography

CAN HE FIX IT?

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- SERIOUS AUD IO

.CO OUND M - TH S E GE

U E & SO ND FAC G A TO IM

IONS - WWW.IM LUT A SO

The Image & Sound Factory, located 35km up north from the centre of Europe: Brussels, provides the Film, TV, Theatre and Music Industry with serious audio solutions for almost twenty-five years. We offer experienced Production Sound Mixers and Boom Operators as crew and high quality equipment for your shoots or any recording on location. You can visit our studioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for Recording, Editing, Mixing en Mastering for TV, Film or Music Productions. There you can find Editors, Recording Engineers, Sound Designers, Foley Artists, Re-Recording Mixers and Mastering Engineers.

SCREEN FLANDERS

CO-PRODUCTION GUIDE

} VLIERBEEKVELD – LEUVEN

SCREEN FLANDERS ECONOMIC FUND The Screen Flanders Economic Fund offers support to audiovisual productions and co-productions that spend all or part of their budget within the Flanders region. Screen Flanders’ annual budget of €4.5 million is provided by Agentschap Innoveren & Ondernemen (Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship). The Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) promotes the Fund and manages the applications in close co-operation with Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship. } MODENATIE – ANTWERP

}

HOW DOES IT WORK?

As an economic support to cover their audiovisual expenses in Flanders, Belgian producers can apply to receive up to €400,000 of refundable advances. Every euro invested in a production by Screen Flanders must yield at least one euro of audiovisual expenditure in the region. The projects submitted to the Fund show an average leverage of eligible spend of around four times. Financing of up to 24% of the eligible costs in Flanders is possible to a maximum of €400,000.

The support is awarded in the form of refundable advances on net receipts. From these net receipts, a percentage needs to be repaid corresponding to the proportion of total support awarded by Screen Flanders in the overall financing of the audiovisual work. The Fund is entitled to this percentage even if the advance has been repaid. Periodical calls are made, each with a specific allocated budget. Applications are presented to a jury consisting of both economic and cultural experts who assess and prioritise all projects. Available funding is then allocated to the highest-ranking applications, in descending order, until all the money for that budget has been allocated.

SCREEN FLANDERS

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SCREEN FLANDERS

WHAT KIND OF PROJECTS QUALIFY FOR SUPPORT?

}

Fiction, documentary or animated features with a minimum length of 60 minutes as well as animated series can apply for support.

WHO CAN APPLY?

Applications must be submitted by Belgium-based producers. Foreign producers must work with a Belgian co-producer that meets all conditions. } FORT NAPOLEON – OSTEND

Animated series must comprise at least three episodes and have a minimum total broadcast time of 60 minutes for the series as a whole. To be eligible, at least 50% of the financing of the overall production budget needs to have been secured at the time of application and the producer needs to spend a minimum of €250,000 in Flanders. Furthermore, the project must enrich the cultural heritage of Flanders (the cultural test).

}

Screen Flanders applications can only be made in response to a call. This year’s three application deadlines are: 4 March, 9 September and 9 December 2016. Once submitted, applications are checked to ensure that they comply with the eligibility criteria and formal requirements. All admissible applications are examined by an expert jury who will assess the following qualitative and quantitative criteria: • The social and cultural added value of the audiovisual work in terms of the quality and attractiveness of the script (maximum score: 10 points) • The persons and structures involved in the audiovisual work: applicant, director, cast, etc. (maximum score: 10 points) • Efficiency and output: the commercial strengths and efficient use of the resources (maximum score: 30 points) • Effectiveness and outcome: the impact on the Flemish audiovisual sector (maximum score: 50 points)

WHAT QUALIFIES AS AUDIOVISUAL EXPENDITURE?

}

Only certain types of expenditure are eligible when it comes to assessing how much support a project might be awarded. These expenses: • must be incurred in Flanders; • must be incurred with the aim of completing the audiovisual work in question; • and must benefit the structure of the Flemish audiovisual sector. Expenditure qualifying for support is exclusive of VAT and may not have been invoiced for at the time of application. It must be realistic and in line with market rates.

}

CO-PRODUCERS

For foreign producers interested in accessing Screen Flanders’ support, the best and easiest way to find a local producer is through the producers’ associations (see page 37).

32 } S C R E E N F L A N D E R S

HOW & WHEN TO APPLY

Applications are ranked in descending order of overall score. To appear in the ranking, an application must score at least 60 points. Available funds are shared between the highest-ranking submissions, in descending order, until funds are exhausted. Visit www.screenflanders.com for the full set of rules & regulations.

}

OTHER INCENTIVES

Screen Flanders support is easily combined with other mechanisms such as the Belgian Tax Shelter and the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF).

Fiction and documentary films may be spread over multiple episodes, but must tell an ongoing story. Fiction films spread over multiple episodes are only eligible if they involve an international co-production in which the total Belgian share stated in the coproduction contract is less than 50%.

}

} BEGUINAGE – BRUGES

BELGIAN TAX SHELTER The Belgian Tax Shelter is a government-approved efficient and transparent tax incentive designed to encourage the production of audiovisual works in Belgium. The system is open to Belgian productions as well as qualifying international (mainly European) co-productions with Belgium. It is a win-win-win situation for the three parties involved: the producer is offered a very attractive way to finance projects; the investor obtains tax exemption through a virtually risk-free investment; and the Belgian state benefits from increased economic activity and spend.

}

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM IT?

PRODUCERS Belgian production companies and Belgian branches of foreign production companies (subject to non-resident corporate tax in Belgium) which have been certified by the Belgian Ministry of Finance are eligible. They may not have direct links to a broadcaster. And, at the time of signing the framework agreement, the resident or the branch of the foreign audiovisual production company may not have any outstanding debts to the Social Security Office (ONSS/RSZ). INVESTORS Resident companies and Belgian branches of non-resident companies that make taxable profits in Belgium can benefit from this tax regime. Excluded are companies whose main purpose is the development and the production of audiovisual works (i.e. producers), broadcasters, credit institutions and companies that own rights in the commercial exploitation of the film. The upper limit on investment is 50% of a company’s retained profits. There is no limit on the number of investors allowed to participate in a production. The maximum exemption of retained taxable profits per investor per year is €750,000.

WHAT KIND OF PRODUCTIONS QUALIFY FOR TAX SHELTER?

}

Productions must be audiovisual works that belong to one of the following categories: • Live-action or animated features, medium-length or short films and documentaries intended to be shown theatrically; • Live-action and animated made-for-television series, telefilms and TV documentaries. The audiovisual work must be approved by the competent departments of the Flemish, French or German-speaking communities of Belgium as a European audiovisual work: • as defined by the Audiovisual Media Services (AMS) Directive of 10/03/2010 (2010/13/EU); • or produced within the framework of a bilateral co-production agreement concluded between Belgium (or one of its communities) and another state. There are currently bilateral co-production agreements with China, Israel, Switzerland, Morocco and Tunisia.

B E LG I A N TA X S H E LT E R

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B E LG I A N TA X S H E LT E R

}

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Based upon the amount of direct and indirect qualifying audiovisual costs the production will spend in the European Economic Area, a producer can sell Tax Shelter Certificates to investors. The total value of the Tax Shelter Certificates may amount to a maximum of 70% of the direct and indirect qualifying audiovisual costs incurred in the European Economic Area, insofar as these expenses are specifically related to the production of the audiovisual work. The value of all the Tax Shelter Certificates sold for an audiovisual work may not exceed €15 million. The investors thus pre-finance the production and/or post-production costs by purchasing a temporary tax exemption.

In return for purchasing the Tax Shelter Certificate, the investor benefits from a temporary exemption of any retained taxable profits worth up to 310% of the sum paid for the Certificate. The upper limit for an investment is 50% of a company’s retained profits. The maximum exemption of retained taxable profits per investor per year is €750,000. The investors also receive a return on the sums paid to the producer; the applied rate is based on the Euribor 12-months rate augmented with 450 basis points. The investors must make full payment within three months of signing the framework agreement. The producer must make the qualifying expenditure within 18 months of

CO-PRODUCERS, INTERMEDIARIES AND BANKS

If we take the example of a production with a €2 million direct and indirect qualifying audiovisual spend in the European Economic Area, this means that Tax Shelter Certificates can be sold to a total value of 70% - in this case €1,400,000. 90% of this expenditure (€1,260,000) needs to be spent in Belgium on qualifying audiovisual costs, of which a minimum of 70% (€882,000) needs to be directly related to the production, post-production and exploitation of the audiovisual work. The producer must incur these costs within 18 months (24 months in the case of animated features) of signing the framework agreement.

}

The first and necessary step for any foreign producer to benefit from the Tax Shelter is to find a local co-production partner (see page 37). Investors can be approached directly by certified producers to arrange investment under the Tax Shelter, which will involve some legal work. An alternative is for the producer to work with an intermediary company certified by the Belgian authorities, which will match potential investors with productions and handle all the paperwork. In return for these services, the intermediaries charge a fee to the producer.

As well as specialised intermediary companies, some Belgian banks have created film funds or investment products to bring the advantage of the Tax Shelter to those of their clients who want to invest. } KATTENDIJKDOK – ANTWERP

To acquire the optimal investment rate (48.387%), the investors buy the Certificates with a total value of €1,400,000 of qualifying expenditure for an amount of €677,418. In return, the investors benefit from a temporary exemption of any retained taxable profits worth up to 310% of the invested sum, in this case €2,099,996. This offers them a total fiscal benefit of €36,370. In order to find potential investors and deal with the framework agreement and legal documents, a producer may hire the services of an intermediary company. In return for its services, the intermediary will charge a percentage, in this example 15% or €101,613. Once the audiovisual work has been completed, the Ministry of Finance delivers the final Tax Shelter Certificate based upon the approved expenditure. The final tax exemption for the investors is then recalculated. In addition to a tax benefit, the investor also earns interest on the sums paid to the producer. The interest percentage is defined by the Euribor interest rate (in this example 0.336% over 12 months) augmented with 450 basis points x 18 months/12, in this case €49,140.

B E LG I A N TA X S H E LT E R

signing the framework agreement. For animated features and series, the maximum term is 24 months after signing the framework agreement. A minimum of 90% of the Tax Shelter Certificate’s value needs to be spent in Belgium on qualifying audiovisual costs, of which a minimum of 70% needs to be directly related to the production and exploitation of the audiovisual work. This refers to costs related to the creative and technical production and post-production of the audiovisual work. Costs related to the administration and financial management of the audiovisual work do not qualify as audiovisual spend and can only be taken into account to a

}

maximum of 30% of the required expenditure in Belgium. Once the audiovisual work has been completed, the Ministry of Finance delivers the final Tax Shelter Certificate based upon the approved expenditure. The final tax exemption for the investors is then recalculated. If at the end of the production the required spend is not fully met, the value of the Tax Shelter Certificate will be reduced pro rata with the qualifying expenditure in Belgium at a level of 10/9. For example, for €1 million of qualifying expenditure instead of €1,260,000, the value of the Tax Shelter Certificate will be reduced from €1,400,000 to €1,000,000 x 10/9 = €1,111,111.

WHAT’S THE ADVANTAGE FOR THE PRODUCER?

Tax Shelter simulation for a co-production with a minimum €2 million of qualifying audiovisual expenditure in the EEA

48.387% optimal investment rate

€2,000,000 Direct & indirect qualifying AV costs in the EEA

€677,418 Cash investment based on the Tax Shelter Certificate value

70% Tax Shelter Certificate €1,400,000*

Interest on investment (Euribor*** +4.5%) x 18/12 = €49,140

90% €1,260,000 90% spent in Belgium on qualifying AV costs

Min. 70% €882,000 Min. 70% spent on direct AV costs

Commission intermediary** f.e. 15% = €101,613

Net Tax Shelter available for production Investment – Interest – Commission = €526,665 = 42% of the qualifying spend in Belgium

Max. 30% €378,000 Max. 30% spent on indirect AV costs

The net advantage of the Tax Shelter Certificate for the producer comes to €677,418 - €101,613 (commission) €49,140 (interest) = €526,665 = 42% of the qualifying audiovisual spend in Belgium

* The value of the Tax Shelter Certificate may amount to a maximum of 10/9 of the qualifying spend in Belgium, in this case €1,400,000. ** Using an intermediary is not mandatory. In the schedule, an indicative percentage of 15% was used to calculate the intermediary’s fee. *** www.euribor-rates.eu The value of all the Tax Shelter Certificates sold for any audiovisual work may not exceed €15 million.

B E LG I A N TA X S H E LT E R

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SCREEN FLANDERS + BELGIAN TAX SHELTER = 66% By combining the mechanisms of the federal Belgian Tax Shelter with the support of the regional Economic Fund Screen Flanders, producers can finance up to 66% of their eligible audiovisual spend in the Flanders region. If an audiovisual cost is eligible for the regional Screen Flanders Fund, it can also be taken into account for the federal Tax Shelter system, which makes it simple to combine both mechanisms. AN EXAMPLE: BELGIAN TAX SHELTER

SCREEN FLANDERS*

Federal Incentive

Regional Incentives

€2,000,000 Direct & indirect qualifying AV costs in the EEA

€1,260,000 90% spent in Belgium on qualifying AV costs

Can finance up to 42% of the qualifying spend in Belgium

€1,000,000** qualifying direct AV costs incurred in the Flanders region

Can finance up to 24% of the qualifying spend in the Flanders region

= 66% of the qualifying spend in Flanders, Belgium

* Screen Flanders is a selective support mechanism. ** Screen Flanders only takes direct audiovisual costs into account. For example, financing costs, hotel and transport costs are not eligible. These costs are, however, eligible for the Belgian Tax Shelter.

Let’s say you are financing an international co-production with a total budget of €5 million and will be spending €2 million in Europe (EEA). For the federal Tax Shelter mechanism this results in a Tax Shelter Certificate with a value of €1,400,000 and €1,260,000 of eligible direct and indirect audiovisual costs in Belgium. Following the schedule above, 42% of these costs (or €526,665) can be financed through the Tax Shelter system. If these eligible audiovisual costs are incurred in the Flanders region, you can apply to the Screen Flanders Economic Fund to cover an additional 24% of these costs, to a maximum to €400,000. Both incentives together can cover up to 66% or 2/3 of your eligible audiovisual spend in Flanders, Belgium.

36 } 6 6 P E R C E N T

THE FLANDERS AUDIOVISUAL FUND (VAF) The VAF/Film Fund supports audiovisual productions in Flanders, as well as international co-productions with Flanders. The aims of the Fund are threefold: © TOERISME ANTWERPEN

• to develop a sustainable audiovisual industry; • to encourage and support upcoming audiovisual talent; • and to promote a vibrant audiovisual culture in Flanders. The Film Fund receives an annual grant from the Flanders government, of which in 2015 €10.4 million was allocated to production support. Filmmakers can apply for support for fiction, documentary animation and Filmlab (experimental) projects.

} MUSEUM PLANTIN-MORETUS – ANTWERP

The VAF/Media Fund was launched in 2011 to support the production of independent television series co-financed by a Flemish broadcaster. The Media Fund supports three types of series: animation, documentary and fiction. The total budget for production support of the Media Fund for 2015 was €3.6 million. For foreign series a minimum of 20% of the budget must be financed through a Flemish producer and the majority of the financing must already be in place. This means that a minimum of 50% of the total budget must already be financed or support by a public film body must already be in place.

The first step for any foreign producer to benefit from one or more of the above mentioned incentives is to find a local co-production partner. An overview of Flanders-based producers can also be consulted in the Screen Flanders online Industry Database (screenflanders.com).

The VAF/Game Fund was launched in 2012 to support the creation of games produced by Flanders-based game developers. The Game Fund supports serious games for educational purposes and other types of serious and entertainment games. The total budget for support of the Game Fund for 2015 was €730,000.

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PRODUCERS’ ASSOCIATIONS

FLEMISH INDEPENDENT FILM & TV PRODUCERS’ ASSOCIATION (VOFTP) Bosdellestraat 120, bus 15 BE-1933 Zaventem (Sterrebeek) T +32 (0)2 731 37 08 E info@voftp.be W www.voftp.be ANIM.BE Deschampheleerstraat 26 BE-1081 Brussels T +32 (0)2 412 41 10 E info@anim.be W www.anim.be

FLANDERS DOC Mark Daems p/a Helmstraat 139A BE-2140 Antwerp T +32 (0)3 236 66 63 E info@flandersdoc.be W www.flandersdoc.be

VAF

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CONTACT SCREEN FLANDERS FUND Jan Roekens - E jroekens@vaf.be

SCREEN FLANDERS FILM COMMISSION Katrien Maes - E kmaes@vaf.be Flanders Film House Bischoffsheimlaan 38 BE-1000 Brussels Belgium T +32 (0)2 226 06 30 E screenflanders@vaf.be W screenflanders.com } WESTERSTAKETSEL – OSTEND

THE SCREEN FLANDERS FILM COMMISSION The Screen Flanders Film Commission provides information to both domestic and international productions in areas such as location scouting, shooting permits, incentives, production and post-production throughout the Flanders region. We can put you in touch with the local film offices or direct specific enquiries to the right place.

This wide range of settings available in Flanders can be viewed on the Screen Flanders online database (screenflanders.com). Each location file within the database comes complete with photographs and descriptions in English, along with contact details for the local film office. The database can be searched by keyword, by geographical position, by type of location and by historical era. It is the aim of the Screen Flanders Film Commission to contribute to a rewarding shooting period in Flanders benefiting all parties. The Screen Flanders Film Commission is a member of the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI) and the European Film Commission Network (EUFCN).

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CREDITS SCREEN FLANDERS EDITION 2016 COVER CYNTHIA NIXON © MAARTEN DE BOER / CONTOUR / GETTY IMAGES EDITORIAL BOARD KATRIEN MAES, JAN ROEKENS, CHRISTIAN DE SCHUTTER ART DIRECTION KARIN PAYS CONTENT & COPY EDITOR NICK RODDICK, JO RODDICK PRINT WILDA.BE PUBLISHED BY SCREEN FLANDERS / VAF All stills copyrighted by the respective producers. This brochure can be consulted online on issuu.com and screenflanders.com More news and features on screenflanders.com

SCREEN FLANDERS IS POWERED BY:

Stretching from the North Sea coast to the rolling countryside of central Belgium, Flanders offers the filmmaker a wide range of urban and rural landscapes and location opportunities. While some are unique or unmistakeably Flemish, others can double for locations across Europe with no loss of atmosphere.

FINDING THE RIGHT PARTNER IS HALF THE CASTING DONE IN A CHANGING WORLD,

BELGIUMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TAX SHELTER PARTNER OF CHOICE BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance offers close to 50% net financing on your production expenditures in Belgium. Enjoy the comfort of dealing with a large financial institution to finance your projects (investments of up to EUR 7m, with no recoupment position required).

Like to know more? Drop us a line via filmfund@bnpparibasfortis.com

FILMMAKING IS A BATTLE

WELCOME TO THE FRONTLINE FULL SERVICE PRODUCTION IN FLANDERS - BELGIUM

www.serviceproduction.be

crew BOX www.crewbox.be