From ‘Franklin’ to ‘Raise the Dead,’ France Entices With Competitive Tax Rebates and Iconic Locales

variety.com:

Ben Croll If once lured for brief visits by the panoply of iconic locations, international projects now linger in France to claim a competitive tax rebate and set down roots to benefit from an ever-expanding production infrastructure.

And so, fuelled by mammoth shoots like Apple TV+’s upcoming Benjamin Franklin in Paris limited series, “Franklin,” the Christian Dior-Coco Chanel bio-series “The New Look” and AMC’s “Walking Dead” spinoff “Raise the Dead,” foreign spending hit a record high last year, filling local coffers with slightly more than $1 billion and marking a 324% increase from 2019 numbers. “This is more than a post-pandemic rebound,” says France’s National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC) digital director Vincent Florant. “[The industry has undergone] rapid acceleration and exponential growth.

Nowadays, we host the totality of these massive shoots, whereas before we only received a part, or even, in the most extreme cases, just a few days of postcard shooting at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.” Offering an across-the-board 30% rebate, with an additional 10% bonus to productions that partner with local VFX houses, the country’s Tax Rebate for Intl.

Productions (TRIP) scheme has played an outsized role in attracting these foreign shoots, while a string of investments into physical infrastructure has kept visitors comfortable on-site.