Frequently asked
questions

Yes. Serbia offers a 20% cash rebate on commercials and TVCs, with a minimum qualifying spend of €150,000. Serbia is the only one of our three core jurisdictions whose incentive covers advertising work; Neither Romania nor Hungary rebates commercials: Romania covers feature, documentary, animation and short film, and Hungary covers feature, TV series, documentary and short film. (Montenegro, handled by the same team, runs its own 25% rebate on feature, TV and documentary work, not commercials.) Family Film is the exclusive PSN partner in Serbia and files the full rebate application for you.

For commercials, Serbia is the only one of Romania, Hungary and Serbia & Montenegro that offers a rebate, at 20% cash back on qualifying spend above a €150,000 minimum. Crew day rates also run roughly 25–35% of UK equivalents before the rebate, so the cost base and the incentive compound. A €500k commercial shot in the UK typically lands near €234k net when produced in Serbia.

Family Film is the exclusive Production Service Network (PSN) partner for Romania. There is no competing PSN company in Romania. Family Film is also the exclusive PSN partner for Serbia. PSN is the global vetting standard that major studios and agencies use to qualify production service companies abroad.

Local crew, equipment and services run 25–55% of UK or German day rates before any incentive: roughly 30–40% of UK rates in Romania, 40–55% in Hungary and 25–35% in Serbia. The up-to-37.5% cash rebate then compounds that saving rather than replacing it. In practice a production budgeted at €2M in Western Europe usually reaches the same on-screen value for under €1M net of rebate in Eastern Europe.

Family Film operates from three offices, Bucharest (Romania), Budapest (Hungary) and Belgrade (Serbia), and produces across Eastern Europe: Romania, Hungary and Serbia & Montenegro as core jurisdictions, plus partner companies in Georgia and Azerbaijan. One contact and one production company handle crew, permits and incentive filing across all of them, so producers do not need separate local partners in each country.

No. Romania's 30% cash rebate covers feature films, documentaries, animations and short films, but not commercials or TV adverts. Among Family Film's three core jurisdictions, only Serbia's incentive covers commercials. Producers wanting a rebate on a commercial should shoot in Serbia.

If the commercial needs a cash rebate, Serbia: it is the only one of Family Film's three core jurisdictions whose incentive covers advertising work, at 20% of qualifying spend from a €150,000 minimum, filed by the Belgrade office. Neither Romania's 30% rebate nor Hungary's up-to-37.5% rebate covers advertising, so a commercial shot in either earns no incentive. If the rebate is not the deciding factor, the choice becomes cost and look: crew day rates run roughly 25–35% of UK equivalents in Serbia, 30–40% in Romania and 40–55% in Hungary, and Family Film services commercials in all three countries from its Belgrade, Bucharest and Budapest offices regardless of which one rebates them. Send one brief and we will recommend the country for your budget and format.

Both. Family Film services feature films, episodic television, documentaries and branded content as well as commercials. The public archive on this site is weighted to advertising: of its 251 campaigns, 247 are commercials and 4 are branded content. Long-form credits sit with the producers rather than in that archive; Anna Sesztakova, who has led the Budapest office since early 2016, has produced or executive produced six feature and long-form projects, among them Netflix's action feature Jewel Thief and a 2025 Great American Family Christmas romcom. Hungary is the group's main base for long-form work, with a rebate of up to 37.5% of qualifying spend, no stated cap, and the scheme extended through 2030.

Both terms describe us, and the distinction matters when you are searching. A production house or production company originates and produces its own content. A production service company is the local partner an international production hires to actually execute a shoot in that country. Family Film is a production company in Bucharest, Budapest and Belgrade that works as a production service company for foreign clients: agencies, brands and production houses bring us the creative and the director, and we supply the crew, locations, permits, equipment, casting, logistics and the tax-rebate filing. If you are looking for production houses or production companies in Romania, Hungary or Serbia to execute a shoot, that is exactly what we do.

A production service company (PSC) is a local production partner that handles all below-the-line operations for international productions shooting in another country. When a UK or US producer wants to shoot in Romania, they hire a PSC like Family Film to manage crew, locations, permits, equipment, casting, and incentive filing. You provide the creative direction; we provide everything it takes to put the camera on set.

You handle: director, DOP, agency team, client liaison, and the creative. We handle: line producing, location scouting and permits, full local crew, equipment sourcing, casting, accommodation and transport logistics, catering, on-set production management, dailies workflow, and tax incentive application. We can also advise on the best country for your budget and format.

We have produced projects ranging from a €150k TVC with a 15-person crew to multi-million international co-productions with crews of 80+. We have no minimum budget requirement. For very small productions we operate a lean model; for large-scale productions we bring in additional coordination and production management resources.

We commit to a preliminary response within 24 hours of receiving a brief: feasibility, recommended country, and first-look budget shape. The full budget and schedule follow within 3 to 5 business days, and location scouts can begin from day 2 after brief approval.

Yes. We have managed multi-country productions shooting across Romania and Serbia & Montenegro in a single schedule. Our three-office structure, plus partner companies in Georgia and Azerbaijan, means a single brief to us can cover multiple Eastern European territories without you needing separate PSC relationships in each country.

Send the brief to the Family Film office in the country you want to shoot in and you will have a preliminary response within 24 hours. Bucharest by founder and executive producer Giuliano Doman (giuliano.doman@familyfilm.tv, +40 726 826 336, 5 Aleksandr Sergheevici Pușkin St., 1st District); Budapest by partner and executive producer Anna Sesztakova (anna.sesztakova@familyfilm.tv, +36 30 2727899, Dereglye utca 5/B, 1036); Belgrade, which also covers Montenegro, by partner and executive producer Doloris Askovic (doloris.askovic@familyfilm.tv, +381 69 622 089, Cara Urosa no. 48, 11000). One brief reaches all three offices: the first reply covers feasibility, the recommended country and a first-look budget shape, a full budget and schedule follows within 3 to 5 business days, and location scouts can begin from day 2 after brief approval.

Both. Family Film is hired directly by agencies and brands, and just as often by the production company or production house that has already won the job and needs a local partner in Romania, Hungary or Serbia. The route in does not change what we supply: you keep the director, DOP, agency team and the creative; we supply line producing, location scouting and permits, full local crew, equipment, casting, accommodation and transport logistics, catering, on-set production management and the tax-incentive filing. Production companies and agencies we have serviced for include Netflix, RSA, McCann Erickson, Prodigious, Monks, Rogue Films, Casta Diva, Armando Testa, Spring Studios and Great American Media. 146 of the 251 campaigns in our archive carry an agency credit alongside the client.

Family Film's archive has grown past 250 productions since the company was founded in Bucharest in 2011, for clients in more than 30 countries. The public archive on this site holds 251 campaigns spanning 2017 to 2026, every one of them credited as full-service production, including 138 shot in Romania, 51 in Serbia and 27 in Hungary. 146 carry an agency credit and 199 carry a director credit, so the record is checkable campaign by campaign rather than asserted as a headline number.

Family Film has serviced shoots for brands including Apple, Samsung, IWC Schaffhausen, Longines, ASICS, L'Oréal Paris, Ferrero Rocher, Hyundai, Vodafone, WhatsApp, Unilever, ING, Bayer, KFC, Lidl, Durex and Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, across more than 250 productions for clients in over 30 countries. It is hired by the production companies and agencies that hold those accounts as often as by the brands themselves, among them Netflix, RSA, McCann Erickson, Prodigious, Monks, Rogue Films, Casta Diva, Armando Testa, Spring Studios, Quad and Great American Media. Each campaign in the archive on this site lists its client, year and format, and most also carry the agency and director credit.

Family Film was founded in Bucharest in 2011 by Giuliano Doman and now operates from three offices, Bucharest, Budapest and Belgrade, covering Romania, Hungary and Serbia & Montenegro, with partner companies in Georgia and Azerbaijan. The Budapest office has been led by Anna Sesztakova since early 2016; the Belgrade office covers both Serbia and Montenegro under Doloris Askovic. Over that period the company became the exclusive Production Service Network partner for both Romania and Serbia, and its archive has grown past 250 productions for clients in more than 30 countries.

A fixer is an individual who arranges access on the ground, local contacts, permissions, a driver, a translator, usually for a small documentary, news or stills crew, while a production service company like Family Film contracts for the whole below-the-line production and carries the responsibility for delivering it. That means line producing and budgeting, the full local crew across every department, locations and permits, equipment, casting, transport, accommodation, catering, on-set production management, dailies workflow and the tax-incentive filing, under one contract with one local production entity. If you need one person to open doors for a two-person crew, a fixer is the right hire. If you need a shoot executed and a rebate filed, you need a production service company: all 251 campaigns in the Family Film archive are credited as full-service production.

Romania offers a 30% cash rebate on qualifying Romanian expenditure. Eligible spend includes local crew wages, local equipment rental, accommodation, catering, and set construction. The production must pass a cultural points test administered by the Romanian Film Centre (CNC). We handle the entire application: registration, cultural test, quarterly expenditure reporting, and the final subsidy request. The cash is paid directly to the production entity registered in Romania.

The minimum qualifying expenditure in Romania is €15,000 for short films and €100,000 for feature films, documentaries, and animations. These are minimums for total qualifying Romanian spend, not the total production budget. A production with a €2M total budget of which €200k is spent in Romania would qualify on the Romanian-spend threshold.

Romania's incentive covers feature films, documentaries, animations, and short films. Commercials are not eligible under Romania's scheme. Of our three core jurisdictions, only Serbia's incentive covers commercials.

Hungary rebates 30% of qualifying spend, and up to 25% of that qualifying spend can be non-Hungarian (above-the-line and other foreign costs), which lifts the effective rebate to up to 37.5% of your Hungarian spend. Feature films, TV films and series, documentaries and short films qualify; 50% of non-Hungarian cast and crew costs taxable in Hungary also count as Hungarian spend. There is no stated cap and the scheme is extended through 2030.

Both Romania and Serbia require productions to earn a minimum number of "cultural points" to qualify for the rebate. Points are earned for factors including: story set in Romania, Romanian language, Romanian historical or cultural content, use of Romanian cast, use of Romanian crew, and post-production in Romania. We assess your production against the test criteria before you commit to a country.

Processing time varies by country and application volume at the relevant authority. We file the application as soon as the production closes its final expenditure, and we follow up with the relevant authority on your behalf. Contact us for current processing timelines: they change and we track them closely.

A Romanian-registered production entity is required to receive the rebate. We can advise on the most efficient structure: some international productions register a Romanian LLC specifically for the production, others use an existing European entity. We work with local tax advisors on these questions and can make introductions.

A tax rebate (used by Romania, Hungary and Serbia) is a cash payment from the state directly to the production. It is not conditional on having a Romanian tax liability. A tax credit offsets tax owed instead. The rebate model is more straightforward for foreign productions with no local tax history, which is why Eastern Europe is attractive versus some other incentive regimes.

For a standard brief with clear visual references, we can deliver an initial location options package (photographs, basic logistics assessment, permit complexity) within 48 hours of brief approval. Full recce with shortlisted locations and on-the-ground access typically takes 3–5 days.

Romania has an exceptional range: pre-war European architecture in Bucharest's 1st District doubles for Paris, Vienna, and London interiors; the Saxon villages of Transylvania pass for medieval German and English countryside; the Black Sea coast doubles for Mediterranean resort settings; and the Carpathian mountains cover alpine and rugged wilderness looks. Bucharest's Communist-era districts are increasingly in demand for Cold War and Eastern Bloc settings.

Yes. We hold the necessary relationships with Romanian, Hungarian, and Serbian civil aviation authorities to obtain drone permits efficiently. All our aerial operators are EASA-certified. Permits typically take 5–7 working days; we can sometimes expedite for tight schedules.

Family Film holds exclusive Production Service Network (PSN) membership for Romania and Serbia. PSN is the global standard for vetted PSCs: membership requires passing a rigorous assessment of crew networks, financial stability, production track record, and infrastructure. International studios and agencies that specify PSN partners use it as their primary quality filter. There is no competing PSN company in either Romania or Serbia.

Family Film works in English at all three offices, alongside Romanian in Bucharest, Hungarian in Budapest and Serbian in Belgrade. On Romanian productions every head of department speaks English, so an international director, DOP and agency team work with the crew directly rather than through an interpreter. Permits, local authority liaison and location agreements are handled in the local language in-house by the office in that country, so nothing in the paperwork chain depends on the client speaking it.

Hungary states no minimum. Romania requires €15,000 of qualifying Romanian spend for a short film and €100,000 for a feature, documentary or animation. Serbia requires €150,000 of qualifying spend for commercials and €300,000 for feature and TV work. All of these are thresholds for local qualifying spend, not for your total production budget: a €2M production spending €300,000 in Serbia qualifies on the Serbian figure.

Romania caps the rebate at €10M per project per year. Hungary states no cap and the scheme is extended through 2030. Serbia states no cap. Montenegro runs its own flat 25% rebate on feature, TV and documentary work, handled by the same Belgrade team as Serbia.

Of the jurisdictions Family Film covers, Serbia alone rebates commercials, at 20% of qualifying spend above a €150,000 minimum. Romania, Hungary and Montenegro all exclude advertising work from their schemes. A commercial that needs a rebate therefore shoots in Serbia, where our Belgrade office files the application.

They are separate national schemes run by one Family Film team. Serbia rebates up to 30% on feature and TV work and 20% on commercials. Montenegro rebates a flat 25% on feature, TV and documentary work only, with no commercials cover. Productions shooting across both countries are handled on a single brief from our Belgrade office.

Romania has Buftea Studios outside Bucharest plus local equipment houses. Hungary has Mafilm, the country’s largest studio complex, and exceptional art-department depth. Serbia has Belgrade Film Studios. Because equipment is sourced locally in all three, productions ship no kit and need no ATA carnet.

We send a preliminary response within 24 hours: feasibility, the recommended country, and a first-look budget shape. A full production budget, schedule breakdown and incentive projection follows within 3 to 5 business days. Location scouts can begin from day 2 after brief approval, with an options package typically back within 48 hours.

There is no standard rate card; a production service company is budgeted per project, against your boards or script, your shoot days and your crew size, not against a list price. What is fixed is the cost base you are buying into: local crew, equipment and services run roughly 30–40% of UK day rates in Romania, 40–55% in Hungary and 25–35% in Serbia before any incentive, and the cash rebate then compounds that saving rather than replacing it: 30% in Romania, up to 37.5% of Hungarian spend in Hungary, and 20% on commercials or up to 30% on feature and TV in Serbia. Family Film has no minimum budget requirement and has produced everything from a €150k TVC with a 15-person crew to multi-million international co-productions with crews of 80+. A brief gets a first-look budget shape within 24 hours and a full budget, schedule breakdown and incentive projection within 3 to 5 business days.

Family Film sources camera, grip, lighting and the rest of the package locally in Romania, Hungary and Serbia, so productions ship no kit in and need no ATA carnet. Each office has access to professional equipment houses and stages in its own country: Buftea Studios plus local equipment houses outside Bucharest, Mafilm, the largest studio complex in Hungary, in Budapest, and Belgrade Film Studios in Serbia. Hiring locally also feeds the rebate, because local equipment rental counts as qualifying spend under all three schemes. A production bringing a specialist item of its own is the exception; the standing assumption on our budgets is that kit is hired in the country you are shooting in.