Building sustainable film businesses: the challenges for industry

12.4 

Germany

Summary

Country indicators:

OUTPUT 

Production volume 2011 (€m) 

463

Number of films 2010 

71

Average budget 2010 (€m) 

2.73

Domestic film share 2011 (%) 

21.8%

Note: these figures are for German films backed by the DFFF.  

Total number of German films released in 2011 was 123.

Country Approach

Following the addition of the Federal Film Fund 

to Germany’s existing regime of interlocking 

national and regional aid, Germany now has one 

of Europe’s most generous subsidy systems for film 

production, and arguably the most accessible to 

foreign co-producers. Unlike in France, the system 

is led by an economic rather than a cultural agenda, 

with German producers supported to partner in 

commercial English-language projects for the  

global market.

National Level Support 

The Filmfoederungsanstalt (FFA) is Germany’s 

federal agency responsible for the economic 

support of the national film industry, and is funded 

by a levy on film exhibition, video distribution, 

and TV broadcast, creating an annual budget of 

€76 million. It provided funding for 42 per cent of 

German films released in 2011, with films backed by 

the FFA accounting for 94 per cent of all admissions 

to German films. 

The FFA provides automatic funding via the 

Reference Film Aid - this is a grant for a German 

producer towards the financing of a new feature 

project, calculated according to the commercial 

or prestige success of a previous film. Films are 

awarded ‘reference points’ according to their 

German ticket sales, awards, and selection for 

specified national and international film festivals, 

and must reach 150,000 points to trigger the 

automatic aid for the producer’s next project. 

To qualify for box office points, feature films must 

have been seen by at least 100,000 visitors within 

a year of its local release, while children’s films and 

documentaries have to be seen by 50,000 filmgoers 

within two years. The FFA handed out €19.1 million 

in Reference Film Aid in 2011.

The FFA provides selective support in the form of 

Project Film Aid. German producers can apply for 

an interest-free loan of up to €1 million per project, 

repayable from net profits. Funding is awarded to 

projects deemed likely to improve the quality and 

profitability of German cinema, with the FFA giving 

out €16.7 million in Project Film Aid in 2011. 

The FFA also manages the German Federal Film 

Fund (DFFF), a €60 million annual fund provided by 

the Ministry of Culture (BKM) which was launched 

in 2007, and which provides a 20 per cent rebate on 

German production costs. Projects qualify for the 

grant according to detailed economic and cultural 

criteria. Minimum qualifying spend in Germany is 

25 per cent of budget (or 20 per cent for films above 

€20 million), and payments are capped at €4 million 

per project, or €10 million for films spending over 35 

per cent and with a higher level of German content.

In 2010, the DFFF awarded €59 million to 80 projects 

including The Three Musketeers, A Dangerous Method 

and Unknown, which related to €340 million worth 

of production spending in Germany in 2010. Since 

2007, the DFFF has backed 527 productions with a 

total of €297 million in incentives. The FFA estimates 

that every euro awarded through the DFFF 

generates an average of €6.08 of acknowledged 

German production costs. 

The FFA also administers a further €6 million a year 

in production funding from the BKM for ‘small and 

difficult’ films, based purely on artistic criteria.

Regional Support 

The States (Länder) play an important role in film 

funding under Germany’s federal system; in this 

system regional film boards, typically part-financed 

by local public TV stations, offer production 

investment which is designed to fit easily alongside 

federal subsidies from the FFA. Seven regional funds 

spent €79.2 million on production in 2011, more 

than 40 per cent of total public funding. North-

Rhine Westphalia, Bavaria and Berlin-Brandenburg 

are the three most significant and long-established 

players, contributing some €56 million between 

them, but MDM (covering Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, 

and Thuringia) has recently boosted its budget to a

Section 12.0  

l

  Appendices

Building sustainable film businesses:

the challenges for industry and government

45

---

Section 12.0  

l

  Appendices

similar level. Two commissions, Berlin-Brandenburg 

and MDM, also offer slate funding for production 

companies.

Role of Broadcasters 

German public TV stations have played an important 

role in the history of German cinema, the 1974 

Film and TV Accord between the government and 

public broadcasters having helped to stimulate the 

German New Wave. 

Since the amendment of the German film law in 

2010, broadcasters have been legally required to 

pay a fixed levy towards to the financing of the FFA, 

calculated according to the number of films they 

transmit. Though there is no statutory obligation for 

broadcasters to invest directly into film production, 

in 2011 German broadcasters nonetheless 

contributed 15.3 per cent of the budget for films 

backed by the DFFF, up from a historic low of 7.5 per 

cent in 2009.

Regional public stations also make a significant 

contribution to regional film funds.

Key Conclusions  

The launch of the DFFF has benefited German 

producers both with direct finance for their own 

projects, and by making them attractive partners for 

international co-productions. Germany has become 

one of Europe’s most popular destinations for 

international producers, particularly given that the 

rules are designed to be flexible and accessible to 

predominantly foreign projects.

12.5 

Singapore

Summary

Country indicators:

OUTPUT 

Production volume 2010 (€m)  

n/a

Number of films 2010 

14

Average budget 2010 (€m) 

n/a

Domestic film share (%) 

2

Country Approach

Singapore’s ambition is to establish itself as a ‘global 

capital for New Asia media’, to that end Singapore 

replaced its old film financing model in September 

2011, reducing the 46 previous schemes (including 

14 separate ones for film) with five simplified funds 

crossing all aspects of media and entertainment. 

Replacing media-specific funding with general 

schemes reflects a blurring of the boundaries 

between modern media. The new system is 

intended to eliminate the need for separate 

applications for every component of a multi-media 

project, and is described by the Media Development 

Authority (MDA) as ‘being 360 ready’. 

Crucially, Singapore has abandoned the concept 

of co-investment in favour of one of grant in aid; 

this is intended to allow better emphasis on script 

and content development and to allow Singapore 

companies to use government cash to become 

equity owners in the film and media products they 

create. During the consultancy period prior to the 

legislation being enacted, the industry argued 

that the old system led to a short-term, project-

by-project mentality, whereas grants allow more 

time for content development and can improve 

long-term corporate sustainability. To this end, MDA 

has started providing grants of between S$250,000 

and S$1 million ($192,000-$770,000) as seed capital 

for selected companies, requiring a minimum 

indigenous shareholding of 30 per cent. 

When it comes to project finance, MDA says that its 

funding should be matched to and complement 

private finance. Production grant funding is 

discretionary and cannot be automatically triggered 

by rebates or offsets. 

Building sustainable film businesses:

the challenges for industry and government

46

---