Film crew and other support staff employed on streaming shows Valhalla and Vikings had their pay subsidised by Irish taxpayers to the tune of an average of €57,000 each in 2020/21.
Filed accounts for the Irish production company making the series show that Metropolitan Films International Ltd received a €34m corporation film tax credit in the year to April 2021.
This offset the €34m operating loss reported by the company.
Company accounts state that an average of 422 production staff were employed by the producer in the period.
A note in the financial statements elaborates: “The nature of the group’s trade resulted in the majority of employees being contracted for a condensed period. Therefore a significantly higher number of employees than the average reported were employed by the group.”
In Association with
Metropolitan Films’ turnover 2020/21 was €72m, and total production expense amounted to €105m. This means that without the tax credit the productions would not have been viable.
Metropolitan Films International is led by directors James Flynn and Morgan O’Sullivan,
The company produces films and TV series in Ireland, primarily by way of co-production of incoming European and international studio projects.
Streaming series that Metropolitan has developed include Badlands, Vikings and Valhalla.
In the three preceding financial years, film tax credits claimed by the company amounted to €85m.
According to the Revenue Commissioners, tax breaks claimed by qualifying films was €137m in 2021 and €139m in 2020.
