GERMANY FILMING INCENTIVES

The German Federal Film Fund

Overview

Type of incentiveFilm Fund
Qualifying formats
  • - Feature film - fiction (theatrical)
  • - Feature film - documentary (theatrical)
Qualifying productions
  • - National productions
  • - Foreign productions
  • - Co-productions

Specifics

Benefit as a % of spend20.00
Financial cap per production4000000
Do I have to register/set up a company?Yes
Does foreign cast/crew paid in their home country/region qualify as expenditure? No
Do foreign cast/crew have to pay tax in the host country/state/region? Yes
Does travel to/from country/region qualify as expenditure? Yes
Can a production qualify for other national incentives such as cultural programmes if it qualifies for this incentive? Yes
Criteria to access the benefit
  • - Minimum percentage of the film that must be shot in the region: 25.00%
  • - Minimum spend 1000000 (in local currency)
  • - Cultural Test
  • - TV Broadcast or theatrical distribution contract required
When will the benefit/incentive be received?
  • - On submission of audited accounts
Additional incentives or advantages
  • - VAT / GST /Sales Tax recoverable
  • - Rece tour assistance, location finding service
  • - The basis for calculating the amount of the grant is a maximum of 80% of the total production costs. In exceptional cases, at the request of the applicant, it is possible to exceed the limit of EUR4 million and award a grant up to EUR10 million if the German production costs amount to at least 35% of the total production costs. The film must have been commercially released in theatres in Germany on at least 30 prints, or at least 15 prints where the production costs of the film did not exceed EUR2 million. If the film is the producer's first work, theatrical release with 10 prints will suffice. Four prints of documentary films will suffice. If financial aid is requested for the first work of an applicant, the grant of a subsidy by the Federal Government for Culture and the Media, the German Federal Film Board (FFA) or a film promotion institution in one of the federal states of Germany will suffice as a reference. The applicants must invest at least 5% of the production costs through their own contribution (with exceptions for a producer's first two feature-length films). Applicants working on international co-productions must cover at least 20% of the production costs or 5m Euros for productions with costs over 25m Euros. The disbursal generally takes place after the production has been completed. The FFA can also make payments by installments to be disbursed according to the progress of the production (33 percent at the start of principal photography and closing of the financing, 33 percent when the rough cut is completed, the remainder after the final cost analysis has been audited). The fund will be increased to EUR150 million in 2018, changing the parameters of next year’s fund - allocating EUR75 million to high-budget international films and EUR25 million to culturally significant domestic projects.

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