New and boosted tax breaks, plus state-of-the-art facilities and a lean, skilled crew base are drawing a growing number of productions toDenmark remains the exception and does not offer tax incentives or rebates for film and TV production. In addition, its production studios have been hard hit by a war over rights between talent and streamers that brought TV production to a virtual standstill in 2022.
Eighty percent of the people working on the shoot are local, bearing witness to Iceland’s impressive crew depth — well over 3,000 people out of a population of 380,000 work in the film industry. All three of Kormakur’s geothermally heated studios are located in the so-called film village, which he is developing on a former industrial site on the outskirts of the capital Reykjavik, intended as a creative hub for Iceland’s booming film sector. It will include apartment buildings, cafes and restaurants, and is already home to the country’s leading equipment rental company KUKL, and RVX visual effects studio .
“A great start, but part of the incentive was to encourage outside players,” says Tim King, head of production at Nordic powerhouse SF Studios, adding that it would need to be increased threefold to be highly competitive, a figure initially recommended by the Swedish Agency for Economic Growth. “It will be the largest projector-based virtual production studio in Europe,” says Tyler Reid, head of infrastructure, post-production & virtual production. “Quality-wise, our wall is comparable to LED panels, but it’s more cost-effective and far more environmentally sustainable,” he adds, saying they already have projects lined up for 2023 but he could not reveal any titles until deals were sealed.
Triangle of sadness a masterpiece!