European Fundraiser: Support for Development of Audiovisual Content

It is that time of the year again! Are you an artist, filmmaker or game developer based in Europe, wondering how to get funded?

Creative Europe published its newest calls for project proposals

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Apart from working with bamboo and playing blockchaingames, I also have received a proper training as an EU-Fundraiser not too long ago.
I have always supported and even implemented socio-cultural projects during my time as a student of European Studies and one thing all of those wonderful and inspiring ideas had in common:
Lots of motivation and almost never appropriate funds.
And if I learned one thing about the European Union in my studies:
Almost no one really knows what the many institutions in Brussels actually do.
Well, without going into detail...

There is a lot of money waiting to be distributed to innovative projects.

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(The budget for the period 2013-2020 is €646 744 174 787! I don't even know what the appropriate English vocabulary is for a number this size)

My favorite agency to look for calls is the EACEA, the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency. It is in charge of the Creative Europe and Creative Europe MEDIA, ERASMUS+, Europe for citizens and EU Aid programmes.
The first Call I am going to present to you this week is:

The Call for proposal: Support for Development of Audiovisual Content.

( EACEA/22/2018)

Applications can be sent in until 18/12/2018 - 12:00 (CET, Brussels time), 24/04/2018 - 12:00 (CET, Brussels time)

Who can apply?

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On a general note:
The applicants must be from the European member states - the main cause of the funding is, after all, to promote the visibility of European Culture on a global scale. Even though, acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates benefiting from a pre-accession strategy and Switzerland can participate in most programs. There might be more possibilities in applying if you want to participate in a cooperation with Europeans.

If you are based in Great Britain however, be aware that if the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU, you will no longer be eligible and your funding will cease.

More detailed:

Who should apply?

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1. A developer of audiovisual works, in particular films and television, works such as fiction, documentaries, children’s and animated films, as well as interactive works such as video games and multimedia with enhanced cross-border circulation potential.

That means there are bonus points for multicultural cooperations.

Note that you can not apply as a natural person unless you are self-employed. They are looking for companies existing for at least 12 months, that can demonstrate a recent success and audience reach.

Eligible companies- What does recent success mean?

1. Activities aiming to support European audiovisual production companies, in particular, independent production companies, with a view to facilitating European and international co-productions of audiovisual works including television works.

The focus of this call is clearly on animation, creative documentary, and fiction. The proposed project should have market value and cross-border potential.

When should you apply?

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This call is aimed at single projects in the development phase.

The first deadline for submitting applications is, as stated above, the 18th December 2018.
The second deadline for submitting applications is 24th April 2019 - 12:00 (noon, Brussels time).

How much money can you apply for?

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Note that this money is always meant to co-finance a single project not to cover your current operating expenses.

The contribution per action under these guidelines is:

• a lump sum of EUR 60.000 in case of animation,
• a lump sum of EUR 25.000 in case of creative documentary,
• a lump sum of EUR 50.000 in case of fiction if the estimated production budget is equal/above EUR 1.5 M
• a lump sum of EUR 30.000 in case of fiction if the estimated production budget is below EUR 1.5 M.

--with a total budget of 5.4 Million Euro.

27% of the budget will go to countries with a low production capacity: Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Malta, Czechia, Estonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece, and Hungary.

What are they looking for aka what are eligible activities?

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• Feature films, animations and creative documentaries of a minimum length of 60 minutes intended primarily for cinematic release;

• Fiction projects (one-off or series) of a total duration of minimum 90 minutes, animation (one-off or series) of a total duration of minimum 24 minutes and creative documentaries (one-off or series) of a total duration of minimum 50 minutes intended primarily for the purposes of television;

• Fiction projects of a total duration or user experience of minimum 90 minutes, animation of a total duration or user experience of minimum 24 minutes and creative documentaries of a total duration or user experience of minimum 50 minutes intended primarily for the purposes of digital platform exploitation. For projects presenting a user experience in a non-linear format (e.g. Virtual Reality), these minimums do not apply. The digital platform is addressing the following types of projects: animation, creative documentaries and fiction projects intended for multiple screen-based devices, interactive projects, linear and non-linear web-series, and narrative virtual reality projects.

Interested?

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If this call applies to you in any way and you are interested in applying, keep in mind that there is a lot of paperwork waiting for you. And in this application, you will always be asked about relevance and European added value.

That's where most people get confused: Do they only accept projects that promote the EU in any way?

No. What they mean is, for example, cross-cultural cooperation, diversity and audience reach.
Relevance and Innovation can be simply put: Does your work matter to people and is its approach new and original?

Your narrative in answering these questions will be crucial to your application. The application will be evaluated by four different criteria, and this first criterion gives you 55 of 100 points. 75 points are needed for the projects to be considered!
If you add a good marketing strategy you are basically good to go.

I think it is worthwhile to spread this information. If you are interested in hearing more or get further information -
just drop a comment.

You can find all the quotes in the original document published here:

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/creative-europe/funding/support-for-development-single-project-2019_en (published by EACEA 18/10/2018 - 17:45)

Pictures used: pexels.com