How Global Tax Incentives Are Reshaping Production Workflows

Follow the money, follow the production. Right now, that means following tax credits from Los Angeles to London, Toronto to Budapest. In 2024, 68% of Netflix’s EMEA originals shot outside traditional hubs. That’s not a trend, it’s a wholesale relocation.

In the ever-shifting landscape of film and TV production, one trend continues to steal the spotlight: tax-incentive migration. As global incentives become more aggressive and talent hubs more decentralized, the industry is witnessing a mass migration of production work — from Los Angeles to London, Toronto to Budapest, and even further afield.

This shift isn’t just geographical, it’s structural. It’s changing how studios build their pipelines, manage teams, and coordinate everything from pre-production to delivery.

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Production is Down, But Big Budgets Are Bouncing Back

According to the Sohonet Screen Production Index, 2025 saw a 14% decline in production count from the previous year, with the value of active productions also falling by 20%. That said, the industry isn’t retreating, it’s relocating.

Q1 2026 projections show a rebound, particularly in the high-budget space, with more $35M+ projects in the pipeline than during the same period last year. As this rebound unfolds, studios are reevaluating not only where they shoot, but also how they work, especially when every stage of the creative and technical process is happening in a different country.

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AX INCENTIVE SNAPSHOT (WHY PRODUCTIONS ARE MOVING)

Germany: 30%

Ireland & Italy: 40%

UK Animation: 39%

UK Base Rate: 34%

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Rewriting the Workflow Map

What was once a tightly contained post house is now a constellation of remote collaborators. A rough cut might take shape in Dublin while feedback loops run through LA and final shots get polished in Wellington.

In this new setup, syncing your processes matters more than ever. One small lag in syncing audio edits with rough VFX passes can throw off days of work. And that’s without factoring in the adjustments needed for regional color pipelines or last-minute editorial fixes mid-review. The classic centralized production workflow has fractured into something more dynamic, and demanding.

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The Logistics of Remote Creativity

The expansion into new production hubs is powered by incentives, but it’s sustained by infrastructure. Teams are relying more heavily on secure cloud platforms, real-time review tools, and globally distributed collaboration tech.

In supporting productions across these regions, we’ve seen how quickly complexity multiplies once editorial, VFX, sound, and finishing are split across borders, making real-time collaboration and secure asset flow mission-critical rather than nice-to-have.

These aren’t just conveniences. They’re lifelines, especially when you're navigating a project where sound design needs to stay in lockstep with animation cues, or where timing changes in a trailer ripple back to affect final grading decisions. Whether you’re working on a moody drama or an effects-heavy sci-fi thriller, the interconnectedness of tasks has turned workflows into a delicate choreography.

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 AI Is Coming for the Tedious (Not the Talent)

Sohonet’s 2026 outlook poses a bold question: Will AI eventually level the playing field between low-cost regions and high-talent hubs?

Already, tools are being adopted that pre-assemble timelines, suggest color treatments, auto-balance dialogue levels, and help VFX teams isolate elements with fewer clicks. These systems won’t replace the artists, but they’re quickly becoming essential collaborators, especially when you're juggling a dozen moving parts across a fragmented schedule.

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Final Takeaway

As productions chase incentives around the globe, your creative pipeline has to keep up, not just in technology, but in strategy. Success in 2026 isn’t about where your team is based, but how well every component, from edit to final mix, moves together in sync.

To explore the full set of forces shaping the industry through 2030, download Sohonet’s ebook 6 Forces Reshaping Hollywood 2026–2030. To learn more about modern collaboration across production pipelines, explore Sohonet workflows and solutions.

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