In many territories, choosing a local partner amounts to choosing a service provider: someone who finds locations, books hotels and supplies crews. In Morocco, the regulatory framework entrusts it with more. The partner is the holder of the authorisations and the entity that carries the support application. The foreign production accredits it to execute the shoot on its behalf.
That difference changes the nature of the decision. A poor service provider costs you comfort; a poor approved partner costs you the authorisation, the reimbursement, or both.
It holds the shooting authorisation
The shooting authorisation is only issued to companies holding a production approval (agrément de production). A foreign production cannot apply for it directly. It is therefore the Moroccan company that assembles and files the application on the CCM's digital platform, and that answers for its content.
It attaches the crew members' contracts, the workplace accident insurance, the public liability insurance, the provisional schedule, and the documents specific to the format being shot. Above all it signs two sworn declarations that bind it for the whole duration of the shoot: to report changes, and to submit the daily call sheets.
It meets conditions that few companies meet
The approval is not a simple registration. It requires a minimum share capital, 500,000 dirhams for a public limited company (société anonyme), 300,000 dirhams for a limited liability company (SARL), and verified professional references: one feature film in DCP format, or three short films in DCP format of at least fifteen minutes each, made by different directors holding the professional card or graduates of a film school.
The company must also be in good standing: bank certificate confirming that the capital has been paid up, tax certificate and CNSS certificate less than one year old, articles of association listing film production in the corporate purpose. These documents can be checked, and are worth checking before signing.
It carries the support application
The cash rebate application is filed by the approved Moroccan company, not by the foreign production. It takes on responsibility for the compliance of the expenditure declared, from the initial application through to the final accounting file.
The timeline falls on it as much as on the production: a 5% guarantee to be paid within 30 days of the CCM's approval, shooting to start within 6 months, the accounting file to be filed within 3 months of completion. A partner that lets one of those deadlines slip forfeits the benefit of the support.
It structures the spend so that it stays eligible
This is the least visible part of the role and the one that produces the widest gaps between the rebate hoped for and the rebate received. Two rules govern the expenditure base:
- An expense is only eligible if it is invoiced by an individual or legal entity established in Morocco and holding a tax identification number or a business tax number (patente).
- No eligible expense may be settled in cash.
In other words, the way the partner contracts with rental houses, extras, location owners and transport companies directly determines the amount that can be reimbursed. A supply chain properly invoiced and paid through the banks produces a full expenditure base; a chain run in cash produces a successful shoot and a reduced reimbursement.
Eligible expenditure is also capped at 90% of the total cost of the work, which calls for cost accounting kept as the shoot goes along rather than reconstructed after the fact.
It employs and declares the crews
The partner contracts with Moroccan technicians and contributors, and those contracts form part of the authorisation file. It therefore carries the corresponding social security obligations.
Payment of the support is explicitly tied to this: among the undertakings given to the CCM is that of having settled in full all debts owed to suppliers and crews in Morocco. An unresolved dispute with local service providers blocks the reimbursement, whatever the quality of the film delivered.
Fixer, coordinator, executive producer
The three terms often circulate as synonyms. They do not cover the same commitment.
| Role | What it carries |
|---|---|
| Fixer | Access, contacts, location scouting, translation. Smooths the ground, holds no authorisation. |
| Production coordinator | Logistics, schedules, accommodation, transport. Executes, without holding the approval. |
| Approved executive production company | Shooting authorisation, support application, crew contracts, responsibility for the expenditure declared. |
A production can work with all three. It cannot do without the third.
Assessing a partner
A few concrete checks, all feasible before any commitment:
- Ask for the operating licence (autorisation d'exercice) and the production approval, and check that it covers execution for foreign producers.
- Ask for the tax and CNSS certificates less than one year old.
- Have the planned invoicing chain described: who invoices what, with which tax identification number, and by which means of payment.
- Ask who, by name, will keep the daily call sheets and the cost accounting.
- Ask for references from foreign shoots executed, and the actual rebate payment timeline on those projects.
The last question is the most revealing. The time between the end of the shoot and payment depends on the quality of the accounting file filed, and therefore on the partner far more than on the administration.
In practice
The choice of Moroccan partner is made in development, at the same time as the trade-off on the volume of spend located there and the number of days shot on the ground. It conditions access to the authorisation, the eligibility of the spend and the reimbursement timeline. In the order of decisions, it is the first and not the last.
