Soft money

"Soft money" is informal industry shorthand for any non-recoupable funding source on a production — distinct from market financing (sales advances, distribution MGs) which are recoupable.

What counts as soft money

• Section 481 — the Irish scripted tax credit tax credit (Irish)
• AVEC — UK Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (UK)
• Screen Ireland (Fís Éireann) funding (development + production)
• CnaM Sound & Vision awards
• NI Screen Fund + sister funds / ILBF / USBF / Documentary / NTF
• BFI Production Fund, Screen Scotland, Ffilm Cymru, Film London
• Telefilm Canada, Screen Australia (treaty co-productions)
• Regional Irish funds (Galway Film Centre, Cork Film Centre, etc.)
• Sales tax incentive certificates from other jurisdictions

What's NOT soft money

• Sales-agent minimum guarantees (recoupable)
• Distribution advances (recoupable)
• Equity investment (returns expected)
• Pre-sales (revenue against deliverables)
• Bank gap financing (loan)

Why the distinction matters

1. State aid cumulation — soft money sources almost all count toward the EU State Aid — the EU cumulation cap and its mitigations
2. Recoupment waterfalls — soft money typically doesn't recoup; market money does. The producer's recoupment is built around the boundary
3. Completion bond — bond pricing reflects the soft / hard money mix

In Togra

Tracked at /softmoney.php (per project + slate-wide). Surfaces the per-funder line-by-line breakdown with each line's state-aid tier; the 50% cumulation panel itself lives at /state-aid.php (see State Aid — the EU cumulation cap and its mitigations).