European Co-Development (CREA-MEDIA-2026-CODEV)
Opening Date30/09/2025
Deadline Date23/02/2026
Maximum Value200.000,00 €
Percentage of Financing70%
StatusClosed
StatusClosed
Who
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
- Be legal entities (public or private bodies)
- Be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- Creative Europe Participating Countries:
- EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
- non-EU countries:
- listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Creative Europe Programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature (list of participating countries).
- Be established in one of the countries participating fully in the MEDIA strand ofthe Creative Europe Programme and be owned directly or indirectly, wholly orby majority participation, by nationals from such countries. When a company ispublicly listed, the location of the stock exchange will in principle determine its
- Be independent European audio-visual production companies
- The coordinator must be able demonstrate recent experience in producing internationally distributed works.
- Creative Europe Participating Countries:
Consortium composition
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least two applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities), which complies with the following conditions:
- An eligible coordinator and at least one eligible partner, established in at leasttwo different countries participating in the MEDIA Strand
- The coordinator and the partner(s) cannot be affiliated entities.
- The coordinator and the partner(s) must have signed a co-developmentagreement that needs to be submitted with the application.
Eligibility
Description of the activities to be funded
The European co-development action shall provide support to the development of a single project for commercial exploitation intended for cinema release, television broadcasting or commercial exploitation on digital platforms or a multi-platform environment in the following categories:
- Animation
- Creative documentary
- Fiction
The project must be co-developed by at least two European independent production companies, having signed a co-development agreement specifying the division of tasks and the collaboration on creative aspects.
The aim is to provide funds to audio-visual production companies to develop works with high creative value and cultural diversity and wide cross-border exploitation potential. Companies are encouraged to develop strong and innovative collaborations at creative and financing level and to develop strategies for marketing and distribution from the outset of the development phase thus improving the potential to reach audiences at a European and international level.
Applications should present adequate strategies to ensure a more sustainable and more environmentally-respectful industry and to ensure gender balance, inclusion, diversity and representativeness.
Only the co-development activities for the following works are eligible:
- Feature films, animations and creative documentaries of a minimum length of 60 minutes intended primarily for cinematic release;
- Fiction projects (one-off or series) of a total duration of minimum 90 minutes, animation (one-off or series) of a total duration of minimum 24 minutes and creative documentaries (one-off or series) of a total duration of minimum 50 minutes intended primarily for the purposes of television or digital platform exploitation;
- Interactive, immersive fiction, animation or creative documentary projects (e.g. narrative virtual reality projects) of any duration.
Works which are designed to be a series with a joint distribution and marketing strategy have to be submitted as a series.
The following works are ineligible:
- Live recordings, TV games, talk shows, cooking shows, magazines, tv-shows, reality shows, educational, teaching and “how to” programmes;
- Documentaries promoting tourism, “making-of”, reports, animal reportages, news programmes and “docu-soaps”;
- Projects including pornographic or racist material or advocating violence;
- Works of a promotional nature;
- Institutional productions to promote a specific organisation or its activities;
- Music videos and video-clips;
- Video games, e-books and interactive books;
- Student films and graduation works.
What
Scope
The objective of the support to European co-development is to support the cooperation among European production companies that are developing works with a strong international audience potential.
Expected results
- Increased collaboration at development stage between European production companies from different countries and from different markets and consequently an increased number of co-productions.
- Increased quality, feasibility, cross-border potential and market value of selected projects.
- A stronger position on European and international markets for companies selected under European co-development.
Funding
The estimated available call budget is 9.000.000,00 €.
Project budget (maximum grant amount): the maximum EU grant depends on the number of eligible beneficiaries (i.e. coordinator and partner(s), not their affiliated entities) that are part of the consortium. If the application is submitted by a consortium of two eligible beneficiaries, the maximum EU grant is 120.000,00 €. For each additional eligible beneficiary, the maximum EU grant increases with 60.000,00 €. However, for the co-development of drama series with an intended production budget of 20.000.000,00 € and above, the maximum EU grant for a consortium of two eligible beneficiaries is 200.000,00 €, whilst it increases with 100.000,00 € per additional eligible beneficiary.
The grant will be a lump sum grant. This means that it will reimburse a fixed amount, based on a lump sum or financing not linked to costs. The amount will be fixed by the granting authority on the basis of the estimated project budget and a funding rate of 70%.
Projects should not normally exceed 30 months
Documents
Organisation: EUROPEAN EDUCATION AND CULTURE EXECUTIVE AGENCY (EACEA) - Creative Europe Programme (CREA)
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