The UK's sale & leaseback model and Canada's tax credit model are two options proposed by the German producer pressure group Film 20 to Gerhard Schroeder's administration to improve the international competitiveness of the German film industry.

The proposals are among a series of recommendations drafted by a legal "think tank" of five leading German media law practices on behalf of Film 20, which will be unveiled this week in a 50-page memorandum entitled "Pro Producer - Pro Film Industry".

"This venture should be seen as an offer to the politicians to see how one can come forward if the political will is there ", Film 20's secretary general Georgia Tornow told Screendaily.com.

She explained that the lawyers had come together to hammer out "quite pragmatically the full bouquet of measures for the development of the German film industry and to show how concrete economic growth could be achieved for this sector."

The report focuses on proposals for clarity on the fiscal regulations for international co-productions; a long-term legal basis for media funds; an appropriate practice for writing-off of film rights; tax models for increasing national and international production activity in Germany and greater flexibility in public film funding.