European slate development

What it funds

Scope summary

Support for independent European audiovisual production companies to develop a slate of 3 to 5 projects (fiction, animation, creative documentary). Optional inclusion of a short film by an emerging director. Activities cover development (creative materials, scripts, financing and marketing plans), co-development and distribution/marketing strategies with emphasis on cross-border potential, sustainability, gender balance and diversity.

Apply online via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Evaluation is competitive with an overall threshold; successful applicants enter grant preparation (evaluation period Dec 2026–Apr 2027; grant signature envisaged Aug 2027).

Footnotes

1. 1Full eligibility, ownership, required documentation (creative dossier, rights contracts, financing/distribution evidence) and detailed lump-sum amounts by format are in the Call Document and Annexes on the Funding & Tenders Portal: European slate development topic page Call page.

This document summarises the Creative Europe MEDIA call European slate development (call identifier CREA-MEDIA). It reproduces the call scope, eligible applicants and activities, financial modalities, application process, evaluation and administrative conditions based on the official call documentation and templates published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

Call identity and timeline

Scope, objectives and expected results

Eligible applicants and participant types

Eligible applicant types and roles, and the rules that determine participation and eligibility are specified in the Call document and linked templates (Application Form, Creative Dossier, Declaration on independence and ownership control). The information below reproduces those conditions.

What activities are funded and project stage

Funding type, amounts and financial modality

This is an EU action grant implemented as a CREA Lump Sum Grant. The grant is paid as lump-sum contributions prefixed by type of work. The project-level requested grant amount (per applicant, i.e. for the slate) must fall between €90,000 and €510,000 per project as stated; the awarding authority may grant less than requested. The call uses pre-fixed lump-sum amounts per deliverable/work type (per work). The grant is not a cost-reimbursement model but a lump-sum funding model with predefined contributions per work category.

Form of grant and reporting / payments

Eligibility and admissibility conditions

Evaluation, award criteria and thresholds

Single-stage submission. Evaluation committee assisted by independent experts will check admissibility and eligibility then score proposals against award criteria. Ranking and tiebreak rules are specified in the call document. Passing overall threshold is required for funding.

Relevance is assessed on slate added value for company competitiveness, co-production approach, partnerships across countries, market visibility, capacity to increase turnover and project ambition, innovation and sustainability, gender balance and inclusion. Quality assesses creative potential, writing, visual approach and transnational appeal. Project management assesses development and financing strategies (adequacy of development budgets, production cost awareness and diversity of financing sources). Dissemination assesses early marketing, target audiences, distribution partners and territorial choices.

Evaluation process and post-evaluation steps

Project implementation and deliverables

Legal, financial and administrative provisions

Application submission and practical guidance

Submission is electronic only via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal submission module for the topic. Applicants must be registered in the Portal and have a PIC for all beneficiaries and affiliated entities. Part B must be uploaded as PDF using the submission system template. The Portal confirms submission by email with date and time stamp. Proposals exceeding page limits will have excess pages disregarded.

Evaluation scoring detail (components to address in the application)

Applicants must address all award criteria in the application narrative and Creative Dossier. The Call document defines sub-criteria and point allocation. Applicants must provide: 1) Relevance: company profile, added value of slate, co-production and partnership approach, visibility and market strategy, capacity to increase turnover and project pipeline, innovation and sustainability, gender balance and inclusion strategies; 2) Quality: creative strength of each work, narratives, visual approach, director/creator materials and transnational appeal; 3) Project management: detailed development plans, schedules, development budgets per work, financing strategy and awareness of production budgets and potential partners; 4) Dissemination: marketing and early audience engagement, defined target audiences, distribution partners and territories.

Success rates and competition

The call document does not publish a fixed success rate. The call budget is €22,374,320 and the number of grants depends on the distribution of requested amounts and the ranking of proposals. Applicants should assume competitive selection and prepare applications that clearly meet award criteria and thresholds. The awarding authority may not allocate the entire budget if proposals do not meet quality thresholds.

Application stages and timelines

Co-funding and financial contributions

The grant is a lump sum model with predefined contributions per work. There is no prescriptive co-funding percentage in the call text for the lump-sum contributions, but applicants must present a realistic financing strategy for production (and show awareness of production budgets and financing partners). The awarded lump sum may be lower than requested. Applicants must ensure balanced project budgets and be able to demonstrate other resources, own contributions or committed financing if relevant to the development and to future production financing.

Success / failure and remedies

After evaluation applicants receive an evaluation result letter. Successful proposals are invited for grant preparation and must pass legal entity validation, financial capacity assessment and exclusion checks. If applicants consider evaluation flawed they may submit complaints in line with procedures and deadlines given in the evaluation result letter and Portal Terms & Conditions.

Templates and application structure guidance (overview of Part B and Creative Dossier)

Structured classification answers

All applicants must consult the full Call document, the templates available in the Submission System and the CREA Model Grant Agreement (CREA MGA and Lump Sum MGA) for complete legal, financial and procedural obligations. This summary synthesises the key call elements for applicant screening and proposal preparation. For technical submission support use the IT Helpdesk; for call-specific enquiries use EACEA-MEDIA-DEVSLATE@ec.europa.eu as indicated in the call documentation.

Footnotes

1. 1Call budget and timelines are subject to the final adoption of the EU 2027 budget. The Agency may modify or cancel the call in case of substantial changes to the budgetary situation. See the official call document and Portal Topic page for updates Call topic page.

Opportunity overview

This is a Creative Europe MEDIA call for proposals that funds independent European audiovisual production companies to develop a slate of 3 to 5 works, with the goal of strengthening their competitiveness, market position, and cross border exploitation potential. The call also supports European and international co production and can include an optional short film by emerging talent. 1

What the funding is about

The call supports development of fiction, animation, and creative documentary projects intended for cinema, television, digital platforms, or multi platform exploitation. It is designed to help companies reduce development risk, attract and retain talent, and improve the creative, financial, and market readiness of works with strong European and international circulation potential. 1

Who can apply

Eligible applicants are legal entities established in countries participating fully in the MEDIA strand, and they must be independent European audiovisual production companies. The applicant must also be owned directly or indirectly, wholly or by majority participation, by nationals from countries participating fully in the MEDIA strand, and must not be directly or indirectly majority controlled by an audiovisual media service provider. 1

Eligibility highlights

Applicants must demonstrate recent experience producing internationally distributed works and must be single applicants because only applications by single beneficiaries are allowed. 1

The company must have produced two eligible works since 2020, and each work must meet the call conditions on duration, commercial release, and release in at least three countries other than the applicant's country. 1

Applicants may submit only one proposal under this call, and companies that received a grant under the previous year's European slate development or European mini slate development call cannot submit for this call. 1

What can be funded

Eligible slates must contain a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 eligible works. Eligible works include feature films, animation, and creative documentaries, including one off or series formats depending on the category, and an optional short film for emerging talent may be added if it meets the call conditions. 1

The works must generally be intended for commercial exploitation, and the first day of principal photography or equivalent must normally be scheduled at least 10 months after the application deadline. 1

Ineligible works include live recordings, talk shows, reality shows, educational or how to programs, tourism documentaries, promotional and institutional productions, music videos, video clips, video games, e books, interactive books, student films, and graduation works. 1

Funding amount and form

The call uses lump sum grants. The requested project budget must be between €90,000 and €510,000 per project, while the lump sum amount is fixed by project type and format. 1

The fixed lump sums are €55,000 for animation one off, €60,000 for animation series, €30,000 for creative documentary one off, €35,000 for creative documentary series, €45,000 for fiction one off with production budget up to €5 million, €60,000 for fiction one off above €5 million, €55,000 for fiction series up to €5 million, €75,000 for fiction series above €5 million and up to €20 million, €100,000 for fiction series above €20 million, and €10,000 for a short film. 1

The estimated total call budget is €22,374,320 for budget year 2027. 1

Conditions and requirements applicants should note

Proposals must be submitted electronically through the Funding and Tenders Portal, using the templates in the Submission System rather than the topic page documents. Paper submissions are not accepted. 1

The application consists of Part A, Part B, Part C, and mandatory annexes, including the creative dossier, rights contracts or proof of rights ownership, co production and financing supporting documents where available, and declarations on independence and language of submission documents. 1

The Part B narrative is limited to 70 pages, and additional pages are not evaluated. 1

Applicants must own the majority of rights to the works, and for adaptations they must also hold the majority of adaptation rights through an option agreement or transfer of rights contract. For European co production or co development between European companies, equal sharing of rights between co producers is accepted. 1

Special attention is given to applications with strong sustainability measures and with credible strategies for gender balance, inclusion, diversity, and representativeness. 1

Evaluation and award

Applications are evaluated in a single stage, one step procedure and are ranked against four award criteria: relevance, quality of content and activities, project management, and dissemination. The overall threshold is 70 points out of 100. 1

The evaluation period runs from December 2026 to April 2027, applicants are informed in May 2027, and grant agreement signature is expected in August 2027. 1

Project duration and implementation

Projects should normally not exceed 36 months, though extensions may be granted if justified and amended. After grant signature, the coordinator normally receives prefinancing of about 70 percent of the maximum grant amount, with no interim payments. 1

The action is structured into one work package per audiovisual work in the slate, plus an additional work package for the short film if included. Deliverables include updated creative, financing, marketing, and development materials, along with an interoperable standard identifier and link to the final work if produced. 1

Key applicant takeaway

This call is best suited to experienced independent European production companies with a proven record of internationally distributed audiovisual works, a slate of commercially oriented projects in development, and a strong distribution and marketing strategy from the outset. 1