Minority Swiss co-development funding

The project must meet the following criteria in order to be eligible:​

• The project is currently in development.
• It is a single project or a series with the following minimum lengths (in the case of series, the individual episodes are added together to give the total length):

There is no minimum duration for non-linear audiovisual projects such as virtual reality works. However, these projects must be narrative in nature and belong to the fiction, creative documentary or animation genre.

• The Swiss production company submitting the application is a minority partner in the co-development. This must be documented by a deal memo or a co-production/co-development agreement signed by a foreign production company responsible for the project.
• The foreign production company is independent of the applicant. Audiovisual media service providers or broadcasters are generally not considered independent.
• The deal memo/agreement must specify the intended distribution of rights (in per cent) and the main producer. A letter of intent (LoI) is not sufficient. The deal memo must comply with the terms of a co-production agreement concluded by Switzerland (country, minimum participation, etc.) in order for the film to be recognised as an official co-production by the FOC. 
• Please note that for series and TV productions, such an agreement currently only exists with Canada, Mexico and the French-speaking part of Belgium.
• More than 50% of the development funding in the majority country must be confirmed at the time of submission.
• The first day of shooting may take place no earlier than eight months after the application is submitted. For documentary film projects, an exemption may be granted upon request in justified cases.

Ineligible projects
Live recordings; TV game shows; talk shows; reality shows; music videos; video games; interactive books; educational, school and learning programmes; documentaries promoting tourism; making-ofs; reporting and animal documentaries; news programmes and docu-soaps; Projects with racist, pornographic or violence-glorifying content; works of an advertising nature; institutional productions that serve to promote an institution and/or its activities. 

Independent Swiss production companies (headquartered in Switzerland; not wholly or partly owned or significantly influenced by a audiovisual media service provider or broadcaster) that​

• have been in existence for at least 36 months (Commercial Register extract),
• whose main activity is film production,
• have produced a reference work in the last five years prior to the application (details below).

A maximum of one project per company may be submitted for this funding line by each deadline.

In order to submit an application, the company must have produced a reference work that:

• meets the criteria of this funding programme in terms of minimum duration and genre,
• has been recognised in Switzerland as an official international co-production,
• and was produced majoritily by the applicant company. A work for which the managing director of the applicant company has a personal credit as (delegated) producer may also be recognised as a reference work. In this case, the work may also be a production for another company.
• The reference work must have been completed within the five calendar years prior to the submission of the application (e.g. for applications submitted in 2025, from 2020 onwards).
• The work must also have been commercially exploited in at least one country outside Switzerland. Commercial distribution is defined as cinema or TV exploitation (the date of the last broadcast is decisive) as well as online distribution or sale via a world sales agent, provided that proof of income (revenues report) from the reference period is available. DVD distribution is not accepted. 

TIP
Reference works and documents such as extracts from the commercial register are used for the formal verification of production companies and are stored at MEDIA Desk Suisse. If the documents from a previous application are still valid, they do not need to be resubmitted.

If any of the following points apply to the project, it is excluded from funding:

• The project has already been rejected once for this funding (a second application is not possible).
• The project is eligible for funding under the MEDIA compensating measures for majority co-development or slates or under the FOC's selective development funding.
• The project has already been rejected twice in the MEDIA compensating measures' majority co- development or slates funding lines (i.e. in a majority constellation).
• The project has been rejected twice for FOC production funding.
• The project has a letter of intent from the FOC for production, or performance-based film funding credits have already been invested in the production of the project.

There are two submission deadlines per calendar year (spring and autumn). Each company may submit a maximum of one application per deadline. Applications may be submitted at any time once the call for proposals has been opened on the FPF funding platform. However, they will only be evaluated after the official deadline. The date of application, not the deadline, is decisive for the eligibility of costs. The same applies to the eight-month deadline before filming begins.

If funding is granted, the final statement of account for the development must be submitted within 24 months of the first instalment being paid out. In justified cases, an extension of six months may be granted.

The following maximum amounts may be awarded:

• Feature films: CHF 50'000
• Creative documentaries: CHF 25'000
• Animated films: CHF 50'000
• Series: CHF 50'000

All federal funding combined (MEDIA compensating measures and FOC funding, Succès Cinéma funding and support from other federal departments) may not exceed 70% of Swiss financing.
Financial assistance through MEDIA compensating measures may cover up to 70% of eligible costs (see below).

The costs must have been incurred by the applicant company and are calculated from the date of application until the start of production. The date of payment, not the date of the contract, is decisive.

• Acquisition of copyrights,
• Writing of the screenplay (treatment to final version),
• Research work (including archive research) and location scouting in Switzerland,
• Search for key roles and actors,
• Preparation of production budget and financing plan,
• Search for business partners, financiers and co-producers,
• Preparation of the shooting schedule up to approval,
• Marketing and exploitation plans (target markets and buyers, presentation at festivals and markets),
• Production of the teaser,
• Production fees and travel expenses up to 15% of Swiss expenditure,
• Max. 7% handling costs, unless the expenses are budgeted separately.

Applications are evaluated by a European (non-national) expert with MEDIA experience using a points system. The experts remain anonymous; the list of experts is published at the end of each year on the Results page.

Projects that receive at least 70 points are eligible for funding. If the eligible projects exceed the available budget, those with the highest scores will receive funding.

Projects that score 70 points or more may also receive additional automatic points:​

• 5 points for Swiss (co-)authorship (with Swiss citizenship and/or Swiss residence permit B or C), in accordance with the author's contract.
• 5 points if the project is specifically intended for an audience under the age of 12 or is an animation project. The target audience must be confirmed by an expert in order for the points to be awarded.

The detailed criteria with all points to be awarded can be found in the evaluation sheet under ‘Resources’ (at the bottom of the page).

The results are usually available eight weeks after the deadline.

No. In minority co-development funding, only one submission per project is possible.

If they are in the majority position during project development, Swiss production companies can submit the project under majority co-development or slates funding lines.

In addition, minority project development funding can be combined with ‘Co-development’ or ‘Slate’ funding from the Creative Europe MEDIA programme. In this case, the European contribution (partially) covers the costs of the partners from the MEDIA countries and the contribution from the Swiss compensating measures covers those of the Swiss co-producer.

This table lists the most important funding opportunities for the development of Swiss minority projects with and without a Swiss author (updated in 2022, subject to change).

Applications must be submitted via the Federal Office of Culture's FPF funding platform.