One flat rate with a lot of fine print
Greece doesn't tier or score its rate. Part C of Law 5105/2024, which replaced the 2017 scheme under Law 4487/2017, sets a fixed 40% return on eligible production costs incurred in Greece. The Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center, branded Creative Greece and still reached at ekkomed.gr, runs three schemes under the Cash Rebate Greece name: CRGR-FTV for film and television, CRGR-Animate and CRGR-VGD for games. This page covers CRGR-FTV.
The subsidy is paid as a lump sum and capped at EUR 8,000,000 per work. Strategic investment projects of national importance can go to EUR 10,000,000 with approval.
Minimum Greek spend by format
| Format | Minimum eligible spend in Greece |
|---|---|
| Fiction theatrical or TV film | EUR 200,000 |
| Documentary | EUR 60,000 |
| Theatrical or TV short | EUR 45,000 |
| Fiction mini-series (up to 16 episodes) | EUR 120,000 per episode, first two seasons |
| Fiction series (not mini-series) | EUR 35,000 per episode, first two seasons |
| Documentary series | EUR 25,000 per episode |
Longer fiction series can qualify up to 150 episodes in season one, and season two can have up to 25% more. Excluded formats include filmed stage shows, sports, news, talk and entertainment shows, advertising and purely educational programs.
The budget limits that matter
This is where Greek budgets get reworked. Eligible spend can't exceed 80% of the total production cost of the whole work, so a production spending everything in Greece still claims on only 80% of its budget. Inside that, five internal caps apply:
| Cost group | Limit |
|---|---|
| Director, screenwriter, two lead roles and music rights combined | 30% of total eligible cost |
| Executive producer fee | 10% |
| Insurance premiums and guarantees | 5% |
| Fuel | 2% |
| Foreign invoices for director and two leads (Action A only) | 20% |
Fixed assets and their depreciation, lending and bank costs, marketing and publicity, and equipment the company already owns don't count. Eligibility starts on the day you file. If production work (other than pre-production that doesn't count as starting the project) begins before the application, the whole project becomes ineligible. Don't let a tech scout turn into a pickup day before the filing is in.
Worked examples
A Danish feature spends EUR 1,000,000 of eligible costs in Crete. The total budget is EUR 3,000,000, so the 80% ceiling (EUR 2,400,000) doesn't bite. The director and two leads are paid EUR 250,000 in Greece, which is 25% of eligible cost and under the 30% limit.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Eligible Greek costs | EUR 1,000,000 |
| Rebate at 40% | EUR 400,000 |
A US studio feature budgets EUR 60,000,000 and spends EUR 25,000,000 of eligible costs in Athens and the islands. 40% is EUR 10,000,000, so the EUR 8,000,000 cap applies, an effective 32%. Only a strategic project designation would lift it to EUR 10,000,000.
Applying and getting paid
- The beneficiary is a company established in Greece, or a foreign producer contracting a Greek executive producer (Action A for large companies, Action B for SMEs). Companies need GEMI registration with the audiovisual activity codes 59.11 or 59.12 and, for most, beneficial owner registration.
- File through OPSKE, the Ministry of National Economy and Finance's state aid system, using TAXISnet credentials, up to 10 days before the project starts.
- Two independent evaluators check completeness, legality, the investment and financing plan and the cultural criteria. The process takes up to three months, and after the initial 30 business days no late corrections are accepted except in extraordinary cases.
- You can request a letter of intent once the completeness and legality checks are done, and show it to financiers while the full evaluation runs.
- The subsidy is paid within three months of the decision certifying the project's completion, into the beneficiary's account, and it can't be assigned to a third party.
Creative Greece also runs a Tax Relief: financiers of an approved project deduct 30% of eligible costs from their taxable profits. It can sit alongside the cash rebate within the cumulation rules, and the trade-offs between the two kinds of money are laid out in film rebates vs tax credits.
Greece against the rest of the Mediterranean
Italy and Malta are the obvious comparisons for sea and island work, and Croatia pays 25% to 30% with hiring conditions on bigger rebates. Greece's 40% is higher than both Croatia and Serbia, but the 30% ATL limit and the no-early-start rule shape your qualified spend more than the rate. Run the scenarios in the incentive calculator or on the incentives hub.