LONDON–The U.K. plans to rejig tax breaks for filmmakers in a move that paves the way for producers to directly benefit from the changes.
The chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown outlined the proposals in his budget speech to members of parliament at a packed House of Commons last Wednesday.
He told the MPs that he intends “to transfer the available reliefs for British-made films with budgets below £15 million ($27 million) from third parties, a minority of whom have abused them, and to pay reliefs directly to the filmmakers themselves.”
The film industry breathed a huge sigh of relief at securing Brown’s commitment to a tax concession and cheered the fact that the move does not carry a time limit.
Stuart Kemp writes for Billboard sister publication The Hollywood Reporter.