Deadline Date: September 17, 2026
The European Mini-Slate Development Programme provides support to independent production companies in Low Audiovisual Capacity Countries to strengthen their market position, develop high-quality audiovisual projects with international potential, promote European co-productions and create opportunities for emerging talent through short film development.
The programme aims to strengthen the competitiveness of European independent production companies by supporting internationally marketable projects, promoting co-productions, enhancing cultural diversity, expanding audience reach, encouraging sustainable practices, and advancing inclusion, diversity, and gender balance.
The programme supports the development of a slate consisting of a minimum of two and a maximum of three audiovisual works intended for commercial exploitation through cinema release, television broadcasting, digital platforms or multi-platform environments. Eligible categories include animation, creative documentary and fiction projects. Applicants may also include an optional short film by emerging talent within the slate.
Funding is provided as a lump-sum grant with a total project grant ranging from €60,000 to €310,000. Fixed funding amounts are determined according to the type and scale of each project. Animation one-off projects may receive €55,000, while animation series may receive €60,000. Creative documentary one-off projects may receive €30,000 and documentary series €35,000. Fiction one-off projects may receive €45,000 for budgets up to €5 million and €60,000 for budgets above €5 million. Fiction series may receive between €55,000 and €100,000 depending on their production budget. An additional €10,000 may be awarded for an eligible short film project.
Support is available for independent European production companies established in eligible Low Audiovisual Capacity Countries participating in the MEDIA strand of the Creative Europe Programme. Applicants must be legal entities and must be directly or indirectly owned, wholly or by majority participation, by nationals of eligible countries.
To be eligible, applicants must demonstrate recent experience in producing internationally distributed audiovisual works. They must have produced at least one animation, fiction or creative documentary project since 2019, with a minimum total duration of 24 minutes unless it is an immersive project. The work must have been commercially released in cinemas, broadcast on television, or made available on digital platforms in at least three countries other than the applicant’s country before the application deadline.
For more information, visit Creative Europe Desk Ireland.
