European Co-Development

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 or 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 audiovisual 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.
• These points are guidelines only - please read the European Co-development Funding call 2026 document for full details.

• 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 (list of participating countries)
• Be established in one of the countries participating fully in the MEDIA strand of the Creative Europe Programme and be owned directly or indirectly, wholly or by majority participation, by nationals from such countries. When a company is publicly listed, the location of the stock exchange will in principle determine its nationality
• Be independent European audiovisual production companies.
• Coordinator with recent experience in producing internationally distributed works. The coordinator must prove when submitting the application that it has produced one previous work since 2019, that respects the following conditions:
  • an animation, fiction or creative documentary projects (one-off or series) of a total duration of minimum 24 minutes, unless it is an immersive animation, fiction of creative documentary project (e.g. Virtual Reality), in which case there is no minimum duration.
  • It has been actually released in cinemas (or similar for location-based immersive projects), broadcast on television or made available on digital platforms in at least three countries other than that of the coordinator before the day of the deadline for submission of applications.
  • the releases or broadcasts are of a commercial nature. Screenings during festivals are not accepted as a commercial distribution.
  • In relation to the previous works, the coordinator must also be able to prove: that it was the sole production company; or that it was, in the case of a co-production with another production company the major co-producer in the financing plan or credited as delegate producer or that its Chief Executive or one of its shareholders has a personal onscreen credit on the work as producer or delegate producer.
• 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 (i.e. not an affiliated entity of the coordinator), established in at least two different European countries participating in the MEDIA Strand
  • the coordinator and the partner(s) must have signed a co-development agreement that needs to be submitted with the application.
• These points are guidelines only - please read the European Co-development Funding call 2026 document for full details.

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 first day of principal photography13 (or equivalent) has to be scheduled at least 10 months after the day of the deadline for submission of applications.
• The coordinator or (one of) the partner(s) must own the majority of rights related to the works.
• These points are guidelines only - please read the European Co-development Funding call 2026 document for full details.

• 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.
• For each additional eligible beneficiary, the maximum EU grant increases by €60,000. However, for the co-development of drama series with an intended production budget of €20,000 000 and above, the maximum EU grant for a consortium of two eligible beneficiaries is €200, 000, whilst it increases with €100,000 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%.
• These points are guidelines only - please read the European Co-development Funding call 2026 document for full details.