20/02/2009

Created last September during the Venice Film Festival (see news), Film Investment Piedmont (FIP), the investment company founded by the Turin Piedmont Film Commission and US company Endgame Entertainment, was presented last week at the Berlinale.

This marks a new model of film financing for Italy, combining private and public funds. With a budget of €12m, FIP would annually invest in the production of two to four films shot in English and with a budget of at least €3m. These projects will have to spend no less than 20% of their production budget in the Piedmont Region. FIP’s investment can be up to 25% of the budget but cannot exceed €4.5m or be less than €750,000.

For now, the investment trust company is made up of two smaller companies, an Italian s.r.l. (similar to an Ltd.) and an Irish LLC. The Italian s.r.l. is a holding company, controlled by two founding partners who will oversee the company’s strategic mission. The Irish LLC, entirely controlled by the Italian s.r.l., will run all of the company’s operational activities, including all commitments and financial investments. Subsequently, all of the investments and transactions undertaken by the company will benefit from Irish legislation and international banking laws.

Each project presented to the Film Commission or to Endgame will be evaluated for its fundamental and technical aspects: script quality, budget feasibility, financial structure, production schedule, estimated box office potential and key creative elements (producer, director, actors, quality).

(Translated from Italian)