Frequently Asked Questions

“Expenses pertaining to script and directing copyright fees” pursuant to Law 4487/2017, as amended and in force, in conjunction with the new JMD 1086/2021, are expenses defined in Law 2121/1993, as amended and in force. More specifically, they concern compensation for projects leading to a specific permit with a specific range of powers from the principal creator (director), and the key creator of individual contributions (scriptwriter). The remuneration shall be determined by a contract between the producer and the director or writer. These expenses shall not include any form of remuneration based on revenues or expenses incurred from the commercial exploitation of the project, which are not related to its production. As regards the eligibility of costs of directors and scriptwriters incurred abroad, the contract between the producer and the director or scriptwriter shall explicitly mention the Greek territory as the place where the project is executed in its entirety. If there are multiple filming sites, separate contracts shall have to be concluded for Greece, so that all compensations related to Greece are eligible, pursuant to the provisions of the Law and the JMD. Moreover, for all the above cases, apart from the fact that the project in question must be executed entirely on Greek territory, invoicing and payment for this cost shall be implemented after the submission date of the relevant application for inclusion of the audiovisual project pursuant to the provisions of Law 4487/2017.

You can apply to EKOME throughout the year. Applications for State aid for audiovisual works production may be submitted up to 10 days before the start of the production and/or post-production in Greece.

(i) Companies founded in Greece operating to produce or offer production services for audiovisual projects (with business activity codes 59.11 or 59.12 or 62.01.21)

(ii) Foreign audiovisual production companies with a branch in the Greek territory operating to produce audiovisual projects (with business activity codes 59.11 or 59.12 or 62.01.21).

In the case of cross-border productions, applications for cash rebates may be submitted only by producers established or having a branch in the Greek territory.

The application is submitted online to the State Aid Information System at www.ependyseis.gr. To file the application, interested parties may consult the application submission handbook for inclusion (request guide).

Implementing body of the investment incentive plan is the producer or executive producer that submits an application to EKOME through the www.ependyseis.gr platform.

In case of the executive producer, a written authorization is required from the producer(s) or co-producers granting them the right to submit the application.  

The beneficiary may be one of the following:

a) The domestic producer.

b) The foreign producer.

c) The Investment Plan Operator, subject to written authorization from the producer(s) or co-producer(s) that designates them beneficiaries of the State aid from EKOME.

EKOME process of approval of the application for inclusion lasts up to six weeks from the date the application for inclusion was filed.

The amount of state subsidy does NOT increase the income from business activity, but it is a reducing element of the cost of the expenditure that has been subsidized and is NOT subject to taxation.

Law 4487/2017 specifies the cultural criteria, and their fulfillment is an essential prerequisite for the approval of an application for inclusion or grounds for exclusion if not fulfilled.

The investment plan Operator fills in all cultural criteria categories and proceeds to a reasoned self-scoring for each separate cultural criterion. Following the audit of the application for inclusion, the competent Audit Committee for the Control of Legality and Evaluation of EKOME accepts or changes the cultural criteria score.

The audiovisual projects eligible for inclusion are short and feature films, documentaries, television series, animated films and digital games.

Audiovisual projects not eligible for inclusion are concerts, recorded performances, sports events and performances, reality shows, recorded events, commercials, infotainment television programs, etc.

Eligible for inclusion are the following:

(a) production phase,
(b) production and post-production phase,
(c) or post-production phase

of the investment plan implementation.

Pre-production costs incurred, invoiced and paid after the date of application submission shall be eligible.

The minimum for eligible expenses of an investment plan application is €100,000 for cinema or TV fiction films, €60,000 for TV or cinema documentaries, or short fiction films, or animated films, and €30,000 for digital games. For TV series and episode parts, the minimum threshold is set from €15,000 (at least 70 episodes) to €25,000 per episode (€20,000 for TV docuseries), and the total budget of all episodes not less than €100,000 (€60,00 for TV docuseries).

The maximum amount of eligible expenses of an investment plan application is €30,000,000.

If the final actual eligible costs are lower than those approved, the investment plan shall receive less State subsidy from EKOME.

A prerequisite is that at least 60% of the budgeted eligible expenses approved for inclusion, as published in the Government Gazette, must be implemented. If the investment plan has implemented less than 60% of its approved costs, it shall lose any right to receive State aid from EKOME.

Examples include the following:

• Declaration of acceptance of the procedure terms
• Contract between partners (co-production, contract with Production Service Company, etc.)
• Documents related to the operations of the Operator and/or Beneficiary, such as articles of association, balance sheet, certificate of non-bankruptcy, etc.
• Production plan and detailed budget for expenses implemented in Greece
• A definitive financial plan listing all sources of financing with the relevant contracts
• Cultural criteria including a reasoned self-rating
• The complete scenario or scenario summary of the audiovisual project or concept design document

A full list of all necessary documents to submit is included in Annex 1 of Joint Ministerial Decision 149-2020.

Above the line expenses (copyright, screenwriting fees, production, music, direction, two leading roles) are eligible up to 35% of the total amount of eligible costs of the audiovisual project.

Please note that the expenses are eligible only when the payment of insurance fees and the relevant taxes in the Greek territory is proven by legal documents.

Remuneration costs of foreign personnel are eligible only when the services are provided in the Greek territory and their tax and insurance expenses have been paid or legally exempted.

For audiovisual works involving eligible costs over 8,000,000 for the costs concerning director’s fees and the fees of the two leading roles (cast), it shall be permitted to receive invoices issued by natural persons or companies or other legal entities having their registered office or being permanently established in a foreign country.

The value of the foreign invoices may not exceed 20% of the total eligible costs of the investment plan whereas the total subsidy may not exceed 12,000,000 euros.

Travel expenses are eligible for travel to or from Greece, if the relevant fares have been issued by a travel agency liable to the Greek State for the purposes of social welfare and tax contributions which also issues the relevant legal documents. The contributors shall be identified on the production’s list of contributors and on the call sheets. 

Eligible expenses are those incurred in the Greek territory and have relevant purchase or rental documents issued by companies based and taxed in Greece.

Marketing, promotion, and communication expenses, which are costs of promoting rather than producing an audiovisual project, are not included in the total eligible production expenses.

According to EU regulations, the sum of state aid for an audiovisual work in any EU member-state shall not exceed:

Α)  50% of the total budget

If, for example, the total budget of an investment plan is € 1,000,000 and it has already been subsidized by the Greek Film Centre with € 200,000, by CNC with € 200,000 and by ZDF with € 100,000, it has received a total of € 500,000 state aid, which equals 50% of the total budget. This production is not eligible for inclusion in the Greek cash rebate because if it receives state aid from EKOME the total amount of state aid will exceed 50% of the total production budget.

Β) in case of a cross-border production, 60% of the total budget (including the state aid by ΕΚΟΜΕ).

Γ) in case of a “difficult” work, 80% of the total budget (including the state aid by ΕΚΟΜΕ).

Cross-border productions are co-productions involving production companies from more than one EU Member States.

“Difficult” is a stand-alone audiovisual project that encounters difficulties in production and promotion and fulfils some or all of the following conditions:
(a) it is entirely in Greek;
(b) it is the first and/or second project of a director or the first and/or second project of a producer;
c) it has a budget of up to €500,000.

There is a specific category in the cultural criteria (JMD 149/2020, Appendix 3, Table E) which determines when an audiovisual project may be defined as “difficult” by reasoned self-rating by the Operator, which is then assessed by EKOME’s Committee for the Control of Legality and Evaluation.

A newly established production company may apply for aid with an obligation to submit financial data for the period it has been set up. Companies under incorporation and consortia are also entitled to apply for aid under the conditions laid down in Article 3 of Law 4704/2020.

The maximum remuneration for the production service company has been set at 10% of the total budget that the company has undertaken to implement, which may be demonstrated through a contract with the main production company/companies.

There is no limit on filming days.

Expenses included in the budget of a project do NOT include Value Added Tax, apart from those that pertain to fuel, accommodation, and meals, which are calculated with the applicable VAT.