Film Industry Support Program (2010)

EEIP has delivered a cost benefit analysis of the Film Industry Support Program for the Czech Ministry of Culture. The assessment has been executed on selected movie budgets supported through the program in the second half of 2010. The evaluation has been approved by the Czech Government. In the framework of the document “Evaluation of the Film Industry Support Program in 2010“, a cost benefit analysis has been prepared. The methodology and specific calculations have been delivered by EEIP. The objective of the study is to evaluate the first 6 months of the Film Industry Support Program and the expected benefits for the Czech public budget and the Czech economy in general. The report analyses the following areas:

  • Increase in the number of movie production teams interested in the Czech Republic
  • Positive net present value for the public budget
  • Beneficial PR for the Czech Republic
  • The impact of exporting film related services on the competitiveness of the Czech economy

The study has delivered the following conclusions:

  • The estimated average value of net revenues for Czech public budgets (net return to support) resulting from the Film industry support is 18.2% (equivalent to value CZK 32,414,874 for the first six months of the Program); it includes revenues from foreign productions and co-productions and it takes into account the fact that some of the Czech productions would take place even without the Program);
  • Shooting foreign movies in the Czech Republic has positive synergy effects with advertising tourism in the Czech Republic to foreign tourists. For instance, the Indian film Rockstar has been very popular in India and therefore the local Czechtourism office will base its advertising campaign on this movie. This will significantly cut marketing costs of its budget. Indian travelling agencies are preparing special trips following the sites of the movie. Therefore, Czech castles and other locations such as Liberec, Loučeň, Sychrov, Karlštejn or Ostré u Úštěka will attract tourists from India.
  • Shooting Mission Impossible 4 in Prague, starring Tom Cruise has attracted media attention of many global news companies. The Czech Republic wouldn’t be able to gain such advertisement otherwise. The following statistics support this statement: When typing „Tom Cruise Prague“, Google returns 478,000 links, which is 1.7% of returned links when „Prague“is searched. When entering „Tom Cruise Czech Republic“, Google returns 573,000 links, which is 0.5% of returned links when „Czech Republic“is searched. Tom Cruise also used his Twitter account to inform his fans about his work in Prague, his account is followed by more than 1 mil users. Finally, positives news about the country has been posted on Tom Cruise’s official website.
  • It is important for the future competitiveness of the Czech Republic to export sophisticated services (among them film related services), which currently account only for a small portion of exported services. For instance, the services for the Movie Rockstar have been accounted for as export of high-end services to India. Film related services have always been an area where the Czech Republic has a comparative analysis. Film industry support is thus in accordance with the intent of the Czech Republic to increase its competitiveness on both European and non-European markets

For further questions and comments please contact Mrs. Dita Tesárková (dita.tesarkova@eeip.cz ).