JERSEY could bring in tax breaks for investors in the film industry, if the States decide it is in the Island’s economic interest.

The JEP has learned that Economic Development has commissioned an economic impact survey into proposals put forward last year by a UK film producer and a Jersey-based finance specialist.

They are asking for States support to create ‘a film and television production friendly community’, administered by a Jersey Screen Bureau, which would in turn stimulate further private investment through a Jersey Screen Fund.

The proposers say that tax incentives are a major factor when producers choose a location and suggest that a tax credit of 20 per cent should be made available to investors in the fund, offset against their taxable income. With this incentive, they say, they could raise initial capital of £20 million, with a ‘notional’ loss of tax revenue of £4 million.

• Picture:  Laying down artificial snow at Hamptonne for an ITV adaption of Thomas Hardy’s Under the Greenwood Tree. Jersey proved to be a perfect Wessex for the production team