Call for Proposals: European Commission’s TV and Online Content Program

Objectives

• The general objectives of the Programme are:
  • to safeguard, develop and promote European cultural and linguistic diversity and heritage;
  • to increase the competitiveness and the economic potential of the cultural and creative sectors, in particular the audiovisual sector.
• These goals are pursued through the following specific objectives:
  • enhancing artistic and cultural cooperation at the European level, in order to support the creation of European works and strengthen the economic, social and external dimensions and innovation and mobility in Europe’s cultural and creative sectors (CULTURE strand);
  • promoting the competitiveness, scalability, cooperation, innovation and sustainability, including through mobility in the European audiovisual sector (MEDIA strand);
  • promoting policy cooperation and innovative actions supporting all strands of the Programme, promoting a diverse, independent and pluralistic media environment, and media literacy, thereby fostering freedom of artistic expression, intercultural dialogue and social inclusion (CROSS SECTORAL strand).

Themes and Priorities

• The MEDIA Strand shall provide support for the following measures:
  • Production of innovative and quality TV content and serial storytelling, addressing diverse audiences, by European independent production companies.

Funding Information

• Project budget (maximum grant amount):
  • For creative documentaries, the maximum grant amount is EUR 300 000 per project.
  • For animation works, the maximum grant amount is EUR 500 000 per project.
  • For drama works, the maximum grant amount per project is:
    • EUR 500 000 if the eligible production budget is below EUR 10 millions,
    • EUR 1 million if the eligible production budget is between EUR 10 millions and EUR 20 millions,
    • EUR 2 million if the eligible production budget is above EUR 20 millions.

Duration

• Projects should not normally exceed 36 months.

Expected Impacts

• Increased production of high quality European works for linear and non-linear broadcasting including on digital platforms, as well as an increase in the number of co-productions.
• Enhanced cooperation between operators from different countries participating in the MEDIA Strand, including between broadcasters and from low capacity countries.
• Increased audience for European works through linear and non-linear broadcasting including on digital platforms.

Eligible Activities

• The TV and online content action supports works (drama films, animation and documentary) intended for linear and non-linear broadcasting, presenting:
  • strong cooperation between operators from different countries participating in the MEDIA Strand, including between broadcasters;
  • high creative/artistic value and wide cross-border exploitation potential able to reach audiences at European and international level;
  • innovative aspects in terms of the content and the financing that show a clear link with the envisaged distribution strategies.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible participants (eligible countries)
  • In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
    • be legal entities (public or private bodies)
    • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
      • Creative Europe Participating Countries:
        • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
        • non-EU countries.
• Specific cases
  • Natural persons — Natural persons are not eligible (with the exception of selfemployed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person.
  • International organisations — International organisations are eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
  • Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.
  • EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) cannot be part of the consortium.

Ineligible

• The following projects are ineligible:
  • live recordings, TV games, talk shows, cooking shows, magazines, tv-shows, reality shows, educational, teaching and “how to” programmes;
  • documentaries promoting tourism, “making-of”, reports, animal reportages, news programmes and “docu-soaps”;
  • projects including pornographic or racist material or advocating violence; − works of a promotional nature;
  • institutional productions to promote a specific organisation or its activities; − music videos and video-clips;
  • projects already financed by Eurimages;
  • productions originally intended as cinema works (e.g. several theatrical distributors and/or an international sales agent involved).

For more information, visit EC.