European Film sales agent

The Creative Europe MEDIA call European Film Sales CREA-MEDIA provides performance-based grants to European film sales agents to generate a fund from 2026 theatrical performance that must be reinvested in acquisition of international sales rights and in promotion, marketing and advertising of eligible non-national European films. The indicative topic budget is €6,000,000 with a maximum potential fund per applicant of €800,000, a funding rate of 70 percent, and project duration of 12 to 24 months. Eligible applicants are single legal-entity European sales agents established and majority-owned by nationals of countries participating fully in the MEDIA strand and appointed by producers via written international sales agreements covering at least 10 MEDIA countries. The planned opening date is 29 April 2027 and the submission deadline is 17 June 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time, with applications submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal using the required templates and annexes.

What it funds

Scope and activities (high level)

Supports European film sales agents to improve transnational distribution and increase investment in acquisition, promotion and theatrical/online distribution of recent non-national European films. Funding is allocated in two phases: the generation of a performance-based potential fund (calculated from 2026 admissions, sales performance and confirmed territorial sales) and mandatory reinvestment of that fund in minimum guarantees/advances for international sales rights and in promotion, marketing and advertising for eligible non-national European films.

Footnotes

1. 1Full call documentation, conditions, detailed eligibility and calculation rules are in the call document on the Funding & Tenders Portal Call page.

Call overview and objectives

Scope, eligible activities and structure of support

The action provides performance-based support to European sales agents. Funded activities are organised in two sequential phases: phase 1 generates a potential fund for each successful applicant based on measurable performance indicators (notably eligible paid cinema admissions for eligible non-national European films distributed in 2026 and other sales indicators). Phase 2 requires reinvestment of the potential fund into acquisition of international sales rights (minimum guarantees or advances) and into promotion, marketing and advertising for eligible non-national European films. Reinvestment may cover up to five different eligible non-national films per beneficiary and multiple cost categories per film. Financial support to third parties is not allowed except as specified in the call conditions where expressly permitted.

Funding model, amounts and calculation mechanics

This is an EU action grant (budget-based, actual costs with unit cost / flat-rate elements where applicable). The call allocates an indicative total of €6,000,000. The maximum potential fund that can be generated per applicant is capped at €800,000. A base allocation for Step 1 is €20,000 if minimum acquisition and distribution conditions are demonstrated for year n (2026). Additional amounts are calculated by multiplying eligible admissions (declared in the MEDIA database) by a coefficient table that depends on the film nationality and sales agent country, subject to maximum admission ceilings per film and per distribution country. An additional step provides a small fixed amount per film depending on the number of eligible non-MEDIA countries where theatrical rights are sold (tiered €1,000 to €5,000 per film, capped at €20,000 per applicant for step 3). If cumulative generated funds exceed the call budget, generated amounts from Step 2 will be proportionally reduced across applicants.

Eligibility and who can apply

Applications are single-beneficiary only (mono-beneficiary applications). Participants in other roles (affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors, third parties giving in-kind contributions) are allowed, but only a single legal entity will be the applicant/beneficiary. Applicants must be legal entities (public or private bodies) established in countries participating in the Creative Europe Programme and participating fully in the MEDIA strand. Applicants must be established in and majority-owned (directly or indirectly) by nationals from MEDIA-participating countries, or if publicly listed the stock exchange location in a MEDIA country will determine eligibility. Applicants must be European sales agents (companies acting as intermediary agents for producers, specialising in marketing and commercial exploitation of films) and must be directly appointed by producers by a written international sales agreement that provides the right to sell the film in at least 10 MEDIA-participating countries. Natural persons (except self-employed sole traders where applicable) are not eligible.

Conditions, documentation and mandatory annexes

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal submission system using the templates provided there. Part A (administrative information) is filled online. Part B (technical description) must follow the Application Form Part B template and is limited to 50 pages for this call. Part C and mandatory annexes must be uploaded. Mandatory annexes include: the completed List of Films template (List-of-films_CREA-MEDIA-FILMSALES), a PDF with information about films extracted from the Creative Europe MEDIA Database (step-dependent), Declaration on Independence and Ownership Control (full ownership structure), official box office evidence where the film is not available in the MEDIA database (step 1), proof of sales and/or royalty statements for non-MEDIA country sales (step 3). Applicants must register in the Participant Register (PIC) and may be subject to Legal Entity Validation and financial capacity checks. The call document and all annexes, Model Grant Agreement (CREA MGA), and additional guidance documents are published on the Portal reference documents.

Evaluation and award

Single-stage submission; evaluation based on admissibility, eligibility, operational capacity and award criteria set out in the call document. Award criteria for this specific topic emphasise Relevance measured against applicant performance on the European market (admissions/step 1 conditions), with a scoring scale: passing scores and thresholds are specified. Overall threshold for the call is 70 points. The call uses an evaluation committee; successful proposals will be invited to grant preparation and legal/financial checks (legal entity validation, financial capacity, exclusion checks) before signature of grant agreement. The grant is subject to available budget and the granting authority reserves the right not to award all funds.

Grant conditions, form and reporting

Key compliance and restriction points

Applicants must provide full ownership and independence information; to be eligible an applicant must be established in a MEDIA strand participating country and be owned directly or indirectly by nationals of such countries (full ownership chain down to natural persons must be provided). Films that have distribution rights in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and/or Ukraine licensed to distributors established in Russia are ineligible for the admissions counted in step 1 for those distribution territories and ineligible for reinvestment in those territories. Double funding and cumulation rules apply: costs and contributions declared under this grant must not be declared under other EU grants. Projects already completed will be rejected. Projects that have already started may be allowed only in exceptional circumstances and cannot claim costs before the starting date unless expressly authorised in the call conditions. Applicants may submit only one proposal to this call. Confidentiality, data protection, ethics and security rules apply as in the call document and CREA MGA.

Application process and templates

Applications must be submitted via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Part A (administrative), Part B (technical — 50 pages max for Part B), Part C (additional data), and mandatory annexes must be completed using templates in the Submission System. Templates and mandatory annexes include: Standard Application Form (CREA MEDIA), List of Films (CREA MEDIA FILMSALES XLSX template), Declaration on Independence and Ownership Control (CREA MEDIA XLSX template), PDF export from the Creative Europe MEDIA Database for film information, official box office evidence where film data is absent from MEDIA database, proof of sales/royalty statements for non-MEDIA country sales, and the CREA Model Grant Agreement (CREA MGA). Applicants should consult the Online Manual and call-specific call document for page limits, font and layout rules. Part B template is available for download in the Submission System and must be re-uploaded as PDF. Proposals exceeding page limits will have excess pages disregarded.

Structured extraction answers (detailed)

The call contains specific restrictions on films where distribution rights for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and/or Ukraine are licensed to distributors/buyers established in Russia: such films are ineligible for admissions counting in Step 1 for those territories; and for the reinvestment phase they are ineligible for all distribution territories where the sales agent has licensed Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and/or Ukraine rights to distributors in Russia.

How the potential fund is generated — technical summary

What the reinvestment can finance

Practical submission notes and support

For full legal, financial and procedural details applicants must consult the Call document and annexes available on the Funding & Tenders Portal Call document and annexes and the CREA Model Grant Agreement. The call document contains detailed eligibility rules, step-by-step fund calculation formulas, coefficient tables, admission ceilings, timelines, application templates and mandatory annex lists, as well as audit and control procedures 1.

Summary — what this opportunity is about

This Creative Europe MEDIA call supports European film sales agents with performance-based grants designed to increase transnational circulation of recent non-national European films. Funding is calculated from demonstrable 2026 market performance (notably paying admissions and documented sales) and becomes a potential fund which must be reinvested in acquiring international sales rights (minimum guarantees/advances) and in professional promotion and marketing for eligible non-national European films. The call is targeted at legal-entity European sales agents established and majority-owned by nationals of MEDIA-participating countries, requires single-beneficiary applications, mandates detailed evidence of past performance and ownership independence, and sets strict eligibility, auditing and reporting rules. The overall topic budget is €6 million for 2027 and individual applicants can generate up to €800,000 in potential funds for reinvestment. Applicants must follow submission templates and annex requirements in the Portal Submission System, provide full documentation (including Creative Europe MEDIA Database extracts and box office/sales evidence where required), comply with EU ethical and exclusion rules, and accept post-award legal and financial validation and audit control procedures.

Footnotes

1. 1Full call documents, templates and the Model Grant Agreement are published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal topic page for CREA-MEDIA: ec.europa.eu

This call supports European film sales agents that strengthen the transnational distribution of recent non-national European films by generating a performance-based fund that is reinvested in rights acquisition and promotion. 3

For the 2027 cycle, the planned opening date is 29 April 2027, the deadline is 17 June 2027 at 17:00 Brussels time, and the indicative call budget is €6,000,000.

Who can apply

Eligible applicants must be legal entities established in an eligible country and, more specifically, in a country participating fully in the MEDIA strand. They must also be owned directly or indirectly, wholly or by majority participation, by nationals from such countries. The applicant must be a European sales agent and must be directly appointed by the producer of each film through a written international sales agreement that gives the right to sell the film in at least 10 MEDIA countries. 3

Only single applicants are allowed. Natural persons are not eligible, except self-employed sole traders where the business has no separate legal personality. 3

Funding size and financial terms

The grant is budget based and reimburses eligible actual costs rather than budgeted amounts. Prefinancing is normally 70 percent of the maximum grant amount, there are no interim payments, and the action must not generate a profit.

What the funding is for

The action works in two phases. First, a potential fund is generated according to the company’s performance on markets in MEDIA countries and other geographical markets. Second, that fund must be reinvested in minimum guarantees or advances for international sales rights on eligible non-national European films, and in promotion, marketing and advertising for those films.

Eligibility of films and market data

To generate the fund and qualify for reinvestment, the film must be fiction including animation or documentary, have a minimum duration of 60 minutes, and have first copyright established in 2023 or later. It must not be alternative content, advertising, pornographic or racist material, or content advocating violence.

The film must be majority produced by producers established in MEDIA countries, with more than 50 percent of the total production financing coming from MEDIA countries. It must also show significant participation by nationals or residents of MEDIA countries, and it is treated as non-national outside its country of origin. 3

Admissions used to generate the fund must have been achieved between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2026, must involve a normal ticket price that was actually paid, and must be clearly identifiable and certified by the relevant national authority. Eligible admissions must also be declared in the Creative Europe MEDIA Database.

Fund generation rules

Reinvestment rules and ineligible costs

Submission, documents and timetable

Applications must be submitted electronically through the Funding and Tenders Portal. The proposal package includes Part A, Part B and Part C, and the call applies a 50 page limit to Part B. Missing or incomplete mandatory elements can make the proposal inadmissible.

The indicative evaluation period is July to November 2027, information to applicants is expected in December 2027, and grant agreement signature is expected in March 2028.

Practical takeaways for applicants