A week-long familiarisation (fam) trip organised by the British Film Commission has taken a North American delegation across the whole of the UK for the first time. The trip was designed to showcase the UK’s TV filming potential after recent enhancements to the TV tax credit.
Terrorism drama Homeland will film its next series entirely in Germany, becoming the first US TV production to do so. The new fifth season will follow Claire Danes’ former CIA agent as she starts working for a private security firm in Berlin.
Nova Scotia in eastern Canada is set to change its filming incentive. From July, the province plans to switch its existing tax credit to a 25% funding programme applicable to all Nova Scotia production expenses.
Ontario has proposed a reduction in the province’s formal filming incentive programme in response to the falling Canadian dollar. Toronto is Canada’s main production centre – as well as being a major North American hub – and recently hosted Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak.
Director Spike Lee could face problems securing filming incentive support for a planned Chicago shoot for his new black-on-black gang movie Chiraq. Authorities are unhappy with the title, which is a word being used in rap lyrics comparing Chicago’s gang violence with war-torn Iraq.
Long-running US crime drama Banshee has started filming its new season on location in Pittsburgh. The city has in recent years featured in Tom Cruise’s vigilante drama Jack Reacher, and also stood in for Gotham in Christopher Nolan’s Batman sequel The Dark Knight Rises.
Louisiana’s filming incentive supported economic output worth nearly USD 1.6 billion in 2013, according to new figures. The state offers a 30% uncapped filming incentive which in the past year alone has attracted major features like Terminator Genisys and Jurassic World.
There was a rise in the number of New Zealand features made as international co-productions in 2014, while Wellington remained the country’s main filming hub. Nearly 80% of production revenue for the year was generated in the capital.