Regional fund Germany, Frankfurt am Main

Produktion, Produktionsvorbereitung, Setzkasten und Paketförderung (production, pre-production and packages)

Run by HessenFilm und Medien (Hessen film and media fund)

Everything after the script in Hessen: pre-production grants, a Setzkasten that bundles treatment, development and preparation, slate funding for small companies, and a production loan that turns into a grant for budgets under EUR 1.5 million. Talent features are grants outright.

Grant or repayable, up to €1,000,000Open to writers in GermanyA production company

Next deadline Nov 24, 2026 (closes in 23 days)

The money

Amount: Up to €1,000,000Production: an interest-free conditionally repayable loan up to EUR 1 million for a feature (EUR 500,000 for TV, series and experimental films, EUR 50,000 for shorts), or a grant when the budget is under EUR 1.5 million. Pre-production grants up to EUR 50,000, the Setzkasten combination up to EUR 80,000, a slate of three to five projects up to EUR 150,000. Talent features up to EUR 500,000 usually as a grant.
What it is: Grant or repayable
To apply: FreeAudit charges for the proof of use are borne by the recipient.

Who can apply

Applicant: A production company
Where you write: In Germany
Rules: Producers with a seat, branch or site in Hessen (any German producer for production itself), spending at least 150 percent of the loan in Hessen. Talent films, up to a second feature, come from micro-companies in Hessen with no Hessen effect required.
Stages: Development, production and completion
Formats: Feature, Series, Documentary, Short, Animation
Language of the application: German

When to apply

The next closing date is Nov 24, 2026. The dates below are the current cycle's, as the funder states them. Consultation five working days before the deadline, twenty for package funding.

Round	Closes
Main jury and talent film	Nov 24, 2026
Main jury and talent film	Mar 16, 2027
Main jury and talent film	Aug 24, 2027

Dates are as the funder states them. Check the time of day and the time zone on the official page.

Also open to writers in Germany

See every fund for Germany

ProductionGermanyNational fund

Jurybasierte Filmförderung für programmfüllende Filme (jury-based production funding for feature-length films)

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Federal production grants for culturally ambitious fiction, documentary, children's and animated features, decided by a jury rather than by reference points.

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up to€1MGrantcloses in 44 days

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.

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up to€100kGrantcloses in 44 days

WritingGermanyNational fund

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FFA, Filmförderungsanstalt (German Federal Film Board), running the federal jury-based cultural film funding since 2025

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up to€40kGrantcloses in 44 days

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Stipendium Stoffentwicklung (story development stipend, Talentfilm)

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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

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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.

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range$2.5kGrantbetween rounds

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Incubator Fund

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Latino Public Broadcasting

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

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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.