Construction is underway on a €10m production complex on the outskirts of Vienna that will launch in the first quarter of 2024.
The HQ7 Studios will initially consist of two fully soundproofed stages with an area of 2,000 and 1,000m2 respectively.
There are plans to build another two stages between 2,000 and 2,500m2, while a third phase of construction may also see space later being made available for outside sets at the studio lot.
In addition, HQ7 will have 2,000m2 available as ancillary office and workshop space.
Speaking to Screen, HQ7’s managing director Anu Shankar said that the idea for a new production complex in Vienna had first been mooted by him and Fabian Kaufmann, founder of the real estate company CC Real, six years ago.
“In the following years we looked at various locations for the studios and explored different forms of investment in order to finance the project which is targeted specifically at film production,” Shankar said.
He said it was timely that the construction of the studios was beginning with Austria’s new production incentive in full swing and proving to be very popular with domestic and international producers.
Under the FISA+ and ÖFI schemes which launched on January 1, 2023, international and Austrian cinema, TV and streaming productions can receive a 30% grant on their Austrian spend plus a 5% green filming bonus, with the maximum amount paid per project pegged at €5m for films and €7.5m for series.
The Austrian capital’s last purpose-built studios for film shoots - the Rosenhügel Filmstudios - stopped operating in 2014. Built between 1919 and 1923, their sound stages had hosted films by such directors as Alexander Korda, G.W. Pabst, Michael Curtiz, Anatole Litvak, Ken Annakin and Michael Haneke.
“It wasn’t rocket science to see that there was a demand in Vienna for studio space when productions were having to use old factory buildings for their shoots in the last few years,” Shankar explained.
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