Regional fund Germany, Schwerin
Run by MV Filmförderung (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern film fund)
A small northeastern fund with an unusual perk: script development is an outright grant of up to EUR 20,000, and a writer can apply with just a producer's letter. Production loans flip to grants for low budgets. The fund partners with ZDF's Das kleine Fernsehspiel on a Fifty-Fifty line.
Grant or repayable, up to €250,000Open to writers in GermanyA writer alone, a writer with a producer or a production company
Next dates not yet published
That closing date has passed. We check the funder's page every day and add the next dates once they are published.
The fund opens once a year. The next cycle's dates are not yet published; we add them when they are. Three committee rounds a year; the 2026 dates (January 29, May 7, October 1) have passed and 2027 dates were not yet published. Requests up to EUR 5,000 close November 12, 2026.
FFA, Filmförderungsanstalt (German Federal Film Board)
Federal production grants for culturally ambitious fiction, documentary, children's and animated features, decided by a jury rather than by reference points.
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.
FFA, Filmförderungsanstalt (German Federal Film Board), running the federal jury-based cultural film funding since 2025
The federal screenplay grant that writers apply for alone, since the 2025 film law moved the BKM's cultural funding into the FFA.
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.
Artist Trust
Two Washington artists a year receive USD 25,000 for pushing at the edges of their field, with no project report attached.
Illinois Arts Council
Illinois pays working artists USD 10,000 by lottery rather than by jury: show an active practice with two work samples and the state lottery draws the winners region by region.
Artist Trust
Washington State's merit award for working artists: USD 10,000 with no strings, judged on the body of work rather than a project.
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.