Filming Venice in Prague? You'll pay more.

It's a proposal that has similar logic as if a hotel owner reacted to a cheaper and more more high-end rival by raising his prices and offering discounts to guests who promise to sing praises of his hotel wherever they go.

Prague 1 City Hall is seeking bigger income from film crews shooting films and commercials in Prague's centre. A new regulation now being prepared would enable city councillors to charge more money for filming in some locations in future. According to a new price list, filmmakers would contribute more money to a so-called security fund compensating for the restriction of free movement of citizens. And on top of that, the city hall would charge higher rates for those who would use Prague exteriors for a film meant to take place in a different location. They should just shoot films about Venice in Italy, Mayor Petr Hejma told filmmakers indirectly. If you don't promote Prague, you'll pay more, he said. In TV Nova's broadcast last week, he even threatened indirectly: „Of course, if it's proven that Prague was not mentioned, filming here might not even be permitted.“

The representatives of film producers did not hide their disappointment. Prague's biggest asset – the wide variety of architectonic styles, which helped filmmakers produce a plausible illusion of Vienna or, let's say, Istanbul in the past, should now be much less advantageous for foreign film crews due to…