International productions return to Italy following tax credit review

Italian producers have welcomed the return of international productions including Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Mel Gibson’s The Resurrection Of The Christ and Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars to the country as new stricter rules for accessing Italy’s 40% tax credit have been clarified by the government. 

“International productions are back,” Stefano Massenzi, head of acquisitions and business affairs at Lucky Red, confirmed to Screen. “We’re about to start an executive producer [job], and we’re seeing other Italian companies do the same.”

Confusion has swirled around the status of the Italian tax credit for months as the government conducted a review into its workings following allegations of misuse by Italian producers. 

“We, Italian producers, all pushed for a review of the law, pointing out how some companies were gaming the system,” said Andrea Occhipinti, founder and president of Lucky Red. “Firms with no history in the industry, names we’d never heard of, began requesting funds. They passed off all sorts of audiovisual ‘things’ as films, just to get the money. A different set of control tools was needed.”

According to Occhipinti, the government intervened and blocked new applications to prevent the system from collapsing. Italian production came to a standstill amid the uncertainty, and some international films that had been planning to shoot in Italy sought alternative locations.

“The most common question [from potential international partners] regarding a return of the tax credit was ‘Are we sure [we can get it]?’,” said Andrea Goretti, CEO of original content at Eagle Pictures, which has worked as the Italian partner on US films including The Equalizer 3 and Amazon Studios’ Matador (also known as The Thomas Crown Affair) starring Michael B Johnson.

“New projects were hesitant to commit. We were confident because we understand how Italian bureaucracy works, but foreign studios were scared by the uncertainty.”

Pandemic impact

The situation is partly a result of Italy’s post-Covid measures, which significantly loosened the rules around the tax credit in 2020 to help Italian production companies recover. The recent overhaul is the first time the rules have been tightened since. 

A showcase of the freshly regulated approach became public at the end of June 2025, when US citizen Francis Kaufmann, a suspect in a double murder case, was found to have fraudulently obtained €1m in Italian tax credits for an unreleased film Stars Of The Night. He reportedly obtained the credit without presenting any footage of the film.

As a public display of enforcement, Italy’s Ministry of Culture issued a statement on July 14 announcing the revocation of €66m in previously granted tax credits for projects that did not meet the requirements, and the rejection of €22m in new requests. 

Local producers are now confident Italy is back on track. To be eligible for the credit which applies to the costs incurred while shooting in Italy, international producers are now required to provide full expense reports and more footage from on-location shooting. Local producers are reportedly subject to even stricter rules. 

“Italy is once again an attractive destination, from where we sit,” said Goretti. “And not just because of the tax rebate. In Italy we have everything a production needs, plus stunning scenery and unique aesthetic value.”

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