In a decree posted online Wednesday and signed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish government said it would raise the spending cap by producers of a single feature film to €10 million, up from the previous limit of €3 million. The amount of a possible tax rebate per production has been raised to 30% on the first €1 million of spending, which is also the minimum threshold for eligibility, the decree said. The previous rebate topped out at 25%.
For every amount of spending after the first €1 million, the potential rebate will be 25% thereafter, up from the previous 20%, according to the decree, which formally amends Article 36 of Spain's Corporation Tax Act.
In addition, the decree said that the amount of production spending needed to be eligible for postproduction and preproduction government support has been reduced to €200,000.
Sánchez's decree follows the approval a day earlier by his cabinet of €76.4 million in measures aimed at boosting Spanish cultural industries through the ongoing lockdown. Spain's Ministry of Culture and Sport will administer the aid, a substantial tranche of which will go to movie and television productions seeking to recover from the pandemic. The government has said it will allow shooting for film and television productions to resume in Spain next week.
Of the total aid package, €38.2 million will be in grants to the performing arts — dance, theater, music and circuses — along with €4 million to help independent bookstores maintain their premises and supply chains, and €1 million to galleries and visual artists.
"The government is fulfilling its commitment to not leave anyone behind, reinforcing the cultural sector to face the de-escalation process that has just begun," the ministry said in a statement.
Support for those businesses includes giving producers more time to get projects that receive state support into production, the ministry said. Producers will also be allowed to claim 50% of government funding in advance to help support their businesses.
Until Aug. 30, films will be allowed to premiere on Spanish television outlets or online and still qualify for state support, a break from usual rules requiring a premiere in theaters, the ministry said.
Sánchez's government has also approved €13.3 million in grants for movie theater owners, whose businesses could partially reopen in the coming months as a gradual, multistage exit from the lockdown unfolds. The ministry said the grant money could be used for new sanitary measures and campaigns to promote theaters once they're open again.
Cinemas that receive the grants will be required to maintain a European Union quota of showing European-made movies in at least 30% of their screenings during 2021.
On Thursday, the ministry, through Spain's Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts, launched a social media campaign to support Spanish cinema during the crisis. In a Twitter post, the institute said the campaign's goal was to emphasize the industry's variety, diversity and energy.
Representatives of the Spanish government didn't respond to requests for comment.
Sánchez earlier this week announced the dismantling of Spain's strict lockdown conditions, which began March 14. Many retail businesses will be reopened in stages between May and the end of June, the prime minister said.
Spain as of Thursday had reported 220,325 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Only the U.S. has had more cases. Spain's death toll of 25,857 is the fourth-highest among countries.
--Editing by Neil Cohen.
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