The IPO/TPA/SASFED/DFA Joint Task Team met with the DTI on June 17th 2009 to discuss the current DTI Motion Picture Rebate Scheme and other industry matters.
In the course of this meeting specific bottlenecks were identified by DTI constraining SA Film production and hampering successful uptake of the Local Film Rebate:
1. Inability of Local Producers to guarantee Finance Plan required for Rebate
2. The Rebate is currently paid out only on completion and after approved audit. This is not aligned to the cash flow needs of the local Producer.
3. Difficulty in securing distribution agreements with local distributors requires another set of interventions not covered by any incentives currently offered by the DTI.
The DTI requested that the Joint Task Team give feedback concerning these key areas and the following recommendations are currently under discussion:
1. A Producer Guidance Service (PGS) is set up to provided, at DTI’s expense, a quality check of Producer’s applications at specific stages of the Rebate approval process.
2. For films budgeted under R10M, a system of interim Cost Report analyses by PGS providers be required by Producers requesting the Rebate Cash Flow option in order to limit the risk to DTI of non-completion of films and to monitor QSAPE against which the Cash Flow is paid.
3. Introduce a new “P&A” rebate scheme for producers and/or distributors that would incentivise distribution and increase P & A spend to improve market performance for SA Films.
This is only one of two parts of the submitted document and deal only with SA Film recommendations and the Rebate problems that DTI have identified. Other members of the Task Team dealt with the Foreign Film Rebate scheme.
The entire submitted document to the DTI can be downloaded here as a PDF. The document outlines only proposals and recommendations to DTI - nothing cast in stone or decided yet by DTI. Your input and feedback to the task team is welcome. You can direct any comments to the SASFED e-mail.
