The Council of Europe’s ambitious three-year pilot programme for series coproductions, that aims to do for high-end drama what Eurimages has long been doing for feature coproduction, is preparing to open for first submissions.
Programme manager Alex Traila confirmed to Screen at Sarajevo’s CineLink Industry days that the programme will launch its first call for projects next month with €21m to invest over a three-year period from 2023 to 2025.
The series iteration will operate independently and as a sister programme of Eurimages. As with the film progrmame, it will offer a “top up” scheme of non-recoupable grants (rather than an advance on receipts) whereby producers will need to have 60% of the financing in place before applying.
Two types of grants are available – one for €250,000 and one for €500,000 – up to 25% of the total budget.
There is also a development award of €50,000 to be awarded to seven projects throughout the pilot’s duration; four in 2024 and three in 2025. Coproduction markets in participating countries will be invited to host the development award which will be granted to a participating project.
The projects applying for development support should be coproductions between two independent producers from Eurimages member states. Producers from non-Eurimages countries, including the UK, Canada, the US and Japan, and the US streamers, can be co-producers but there will be a cap on the rights they can own.
Expansion plans
As of August 2023, 12 countries of the 39 in Eurimages, are envisaged to sign their commitement to the pilot programme: Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain among them. Further countries are in discussion to join next year. The states involved in the pilot are contributing extra funds in order to fund the scheme. The investments are separate from these countries’ Eurimages subscriptions.
In the first year, there will be “an envelope of slightly less than €7m… but nevertheless, it will allow us to support between 10 and 12 projects”, said Traila.
There will be only one call for submissions per year. Diversity targets will be in place. The organisers will be looking for a gender balance across creative roles. “We don’t have quotas but the points system that will be in place on the evaluation side will take into consideration the balance of gender,” Traila confirmed.
“We are looking for series, be it drama in the larger sense or comedy as well, docu-series, animation and [with] any target audience,” the programme manager added. “There is no editorial line that we are asking for.”
An independent panel of experts, including commissioning editors, sales agents and producers, from across Europe will be appointed shortly to evaluate the submitted projects.
Traila talked of “empowering independent producers to have the possibility to retain a certain percentage of the rights.”
These producers have to apply with a broadcaster or platform from their own country already abroad. “The minimum condition is to have another coproducer which will also be an independent company but this cane be from any of the Eurimages countries and that includes Canada,” Traila said.
Another condition for applying is the producer must have a license agreement in place that is “outside the coproduction countries because we are looking for projects that are meant to travel and be seen,” said Traila.
Traila was speaking after the CineLink Industry Talks panel, “Public Pockets for Private Dramas: The Financing Challenge?” This explored the financing hurdles faced by independent producers of drama.
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