New Film Incentive Model in Austria: HBO Shoots New Series Project "The Palace" in Vienna

Lifestyle & TravelMore+ ♦ Published: February 5, 2023; 20:42 ♦ (Vindobona)

The Vienna Film Commission is now increasingly promoting international film and series productions in Vienna and Austria. A new film funding model has been in place for some time and has now brought the first international project to the city. The new series from HBO with Hugh Grant and Kate Winslet called "The Palace" had its shooting start in Vienna.

Inside the Palais Liechtenstein are impressive staterooms, where HBO is now filming its new series project "The Palace." / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / C.Stadler/Bwag / CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

The US TV giant HBO has officially confirmed the start of shooting for its new series project "The Palace". Unofficially, filming has been underway in Vienna for more than a week. A large part of the series will be filmed in Austria's capital. Thereby, the filming locations include many sights at the start. The start, filming took place at the Palais Liechtenstein.

International filming has indeed taken place in Vienna time and again in the past. But such large and lengthy productions have so far been the exception. The Vienna Film Commission hopes that this will now change, with a new incentive model.

For example, "The Palace" is the first international project to receive funding from the new FISAplus incentive model, emphasized Marijana Stoisits as managing director of the Vienna Film Commission.

The Vienna Film Commission has been able to make use of its new funding system, in which up to 35 percent of the funds invested in Austria are refunded. The money can be reclaimed for international films, television and streaming projects as well as for domestic productions or co-productions.

Productions can receive a non-refundable grant of 30 percent for projects realized in Austria. If additional ecological criteria are met, the subsidy increases by another five percent. There is also a further bonus for projects with a high proportion of women - 25,000 euros can be collected for these. "The new thing about the funding is that it is not capped," says Marijana Stoisits of the Vienna Film Commission. In other words, the funding pot cannot become empty.

In concrete terms, HBO is now using this funding program for its new series and is pleased with the funding as well as the variety of motifs in Vienna. This project, which is filmed almost entirely in Vienna, increases the internationalism of the city.

Hollywood star Kate Winslet plays the lead role in the project about an authoritarian regime in the process of dissolution, flanked by colleagues such as Hugh Grant, Matthias Schoenaerts and Andrea Riseborough. The film is directed by Stephen Frears.

In addition to the big stars, all kinds of employees are also working on the grounds of the Garden Palace these days. The film crew includes about 200 people involved in the production in Vienna. And about 80 of them come from Great Britain. They all need hotel rooms, go shopping or eat here. "Vienna benefits greatly from major international productions," says Stoisits.

The subsidy only increases the profitability of the state. According to the Vienna Film Commission, it increases advertising value, tourism, and internationalism. Vienna is also getting two new film studios.

Vienna Film Commission