Regional fund Germany, Düsseldorf

Gerd Ruge Stipendium (documentary development stipend)

Run by Film- und Medienstiftung NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia film and media foundation)

Since 2002 this NRW stipend has paid young documentary makers to develop a cinema feature before any producer is attached: a treatment, research trips, a visual concept. Residence anywhere in Germany is enough, which is rare for a regional fund.

Grant up to €100,000Open to writers in GermanyA writer alone

Next dates not yet published

The money

Amount
Up to €100,000Up to EUR 100,000 a year across the chosen projects, as a grant for treatment writing, research, travel, legal advice, packaging and financing forums, spent within 18 months.
What it is
Grant
To apply
Free

Who can apply

Applicant
A writer alone
Where you write
In Germany
Rules
Writers and directors, not producers, with a main residence in Germany, finished with film studies, on their first, second or third documentary after school, with one professionally released directing credit. The subject must be new, a feature-length cinema documentary, not yet submitted anywhere, with all rights held by the applicant.
Stages
Development
Formats
Documentary
Language of the application
German

When to apply

The fund opens once a year. The next cycle's dates are not yet published; we add them when they are. The 2026 round is closed; the page says the stipend will be advertised again in 2027.

What it gives besides money

A required consultation before applying; the awards are presented at a ceremony in Cologne.

Also open to writers in Germany

See every fund for Germany

DevelopmentGermanyNational fund

Jurybasierte kulturelle Projektentwicklungsförderung (jury-based project development funding)

FFA, Filmförderungsanstalt (German Federal Film Board)

Development money for the stage after the script: rights, further drafts, casting, budgeting. A production company applies, except in documentary, where writers and directors may come alone.

Next deadline Dec 15, 2026A production company or a writer aloneFeature, Documentary, Animation

up to€100kGrantcloses in 44 days

WritingGermanyNational fund

Stipendium Stoffentwicklung (story development stipend, Talentfilm)

Kuratorium junger deutscher Film (foundation for young German film)

Germany's talent fund pays a writer up to EUR 25,000 to develop an original idea from research to script over ten months, with a dramaturg attached.

Next dates not yet publishedA writer aloneFeature, Series, Documentary, Animation

up to€25kRepayablebetween rounds

More development funding elsewhere

See all development funding

WritingDevelopmentUnited StatesRegional fund

Grants for Artist Projects (GAP)

Artist Trust

Small, fast and plentiful: 65 Washington artists a year receive USD 2,500 toward a specific project, from research travel to a first draft.

Next dates not yet publishedA writer aloneFeature, Series, Short, Documentary, Animation

range$2.5kGrantbetween rounds

DevelopmentUnited StatesBroadcaster

Incubator Fund

ITVS, Independent Television Service

ITVS's development door, replacing its earlier diversity development fund: a small first payment to shape a nonfiction feature or web series for PBS streaming, with a few months of…

Not taking applications this cycleA writer with a producerDocumentary, Series

up to$10kGrantpaused

DevelopmentProductionCompletionUnited StatesBroadcaster

Public Media Content Fund

Latino Public Broadcasting

Documentaries and limited series about Latino life for national public television, funded from first research through the final mix.

Next dates not yet publishedA writer with a producer or a production companyDocumentary, Series

range$100kInvestmentbetween rounds

DevelopmentUnited StatesFoundation or company fund

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grants at Film Independent

Film Independent, with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Science on screen pays here: three cash grants a year for fiction projects about scientists or technology, awarded inside Film Independent's Episodic Lab, Producing Lab and Fast Track…

Next dates not yet publishedA writer alone or a writer with a producerFeature, Series

range$30kGrantbetween rounds

Also useful

Where Creative Europe's development money goesEvery MEDIA development grant since 2014, by country, company and year.Fellowships and labsPrograms that pick a few writers and work with them for months, on the events pages.How to write a treatmentThe document a development application is built on, step by step.Screenwriting eventsContests, labs, festivals and conferences, with their deadlines.