Goodbye, Angelina

Forget Daniel Craig running around Prague Airport as James Bond. And Angelina Jolie, the star of the nearly finished Wanted, will be chased by paparazzi somewhere else. At least that's what local filmmakers are warning. The value of foreign productions in the Czech Republic has fallen from CZK 5 billion in 2003 to a quarter of that this year.

What happened? Foreign crews have started to look to other countries whose governments lure filmmakers with tax incentives, in contrast to the Czech Republic. Prague's fame among foreign production houses as a haven of low costs, smart professionals and well-built infrastructure could soon be history.

Several million just for flowers

Liberal economists get angry when they hear the phrase „tax relief“. Vladimír Kuba, the director of Barrandov Studios, can't stand it either: „It is a common economic tool. Let's call it ‚fiscal stimuli‘. If the European Union respects these stimuli in other countries, then we also want to be competitive. If incentives are unsystematic and unfair, then why does the EU support farmers?“

Two weeks ago the outspoken chief of the film-services giant triggered another round in the industry's lobbying offensive. It began with the assertion that due to the lack of incentives, the third instalment in the epic Hollywood fantasy series The…