National fund Germany, Wiesbaden

Talentfilm: Projektentwicklung und Produktion (talent film project development and production)

Run by Kuratorium junger deutscher Film (foundation for young German film)

Where first and second films by German writers, directors and producers go for development and production money since the FFA handed talent films to the Kuratorium in January 2026. Production comes as a grant of up to half a million euros. A writer gets here through a producer.

Grant or repayable, up to €500,000Open to writers in GermanyA production company

Next dates not yet published

The money

Amount
Up to €500,000Project development: an interest-free conditionally repayable loan up to EUR 50,000 for films budgeted up to EUR 2 million. Production: a grant up to EUR 500,000, in justified cases EUR 1,000,000, for feature-length talent films; shorts up to EUR 40,000 as a grant.
What it is
Grant or repayable
To apply
FreeA handling fee is withheld from each payout; the page names no fee to apply.

Who can apply

Applicant
A production company
Where you write
In Germany
Rules
A producer applies. At least two of the three roles script, direction and production must be held by talents, meaning people on their first or second feature-length film (or under 300 minutes in other formats), film school graduates or self-taught, not enrolled students. Budgets up to EUR 2 million net; a 5 percent own share; German cultural tests like the FFA's.
Stages
Development and production
Formats
Feature, Documentary, Animation, Short
Language of the application
German

When to apply

The fund works in fixed rounds. The next dates are not yet published; we add them when they are. The board announces the application windows on its website; none was listed on November 1, 2026.

What it gives besides money

Project supervision by the foundation's staff from the grant to delivery.

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.