The German Motion Picture Fund (GMPF) paid out a record €84.4m in funding in 2022 to 43 high-end series projects by streamers and public broadcasters.
Netflix clinched the largest sum - over €10.38m - for five projects including Constantin Television’s six-part thriller series Liebes Kind, based on the eponymous novel by Romy Hausmann, Real Film’s six-part crime series Sleeping Dog, and W&B Television’s fairytale urban thriller series The Grimm Reality.
Sky was not far behind with a total of €10.33m awarded to six projects, including the third and final season of Der Pass, which airs on Sky’s platform and the WOW streaming service from May 4, UFA Fiction’s production of Robert Schwentke’s dystopian seven-parter Helgoland 513, and Odeon Fiction’s eight-part romcom series set in the near future Tender Hearts.
Apple TV+ secured €10m for conspiracy-based psychological thriller drama series Constellation, starring Noomi Rapace and Jonathan Banks and produced by the UK’s Turbine Studios with its German sister company Turbine Studios GmbH and France’s Haut et Court TV.
The GMPF’s support for Constellation is the maximum amount that the fund can give to a single project and is the same as the sum allocated to Netflix’s 1899 series in 2021.
Peacock and Paramount+ tied for fourth place with each receiving funding totalling €8m, Peacock for its spin-off comedy series Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin, and Paramount+ for four projects including cyberthriller series A Thin Line, produced by Weydemann Bros., and W&B Television’s adaptation of Andreas Eschbach’s bestseller Eine Billion Dollar.
In addition, five of Disney+’s series were supported with around €7.9m, including Big Window Productions’ Sam - Ein Sachse about the first black policeman to serve in former East Germany, and btf series’ coming of age drama Pauline. Amazon garnered €7.3m for five projects including as Warner Bros. ITVP Deutschland’s Love Addicts and Constantin Entertainment’s documentary series Jan Ullrich - Der Gejagte about the rise and fall of the German cycling legend.
GMPF’s funding was also granted last year to series projects by public broadcasters ARD/Degeto, WDR and ZDF as well as RTL Deutschland’s RTL+ platform.
Funding from the GMPF is aimed at series and films not intended for theatrical release and can amount to up to 20% or 25% of approved German production costs for series.
The German production costs of a project must be at least 40% of the total production costs, and the funded film or series must be aired on German television or by a VoD service accessible in Germany.
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