Germany
Germany has some top class facilities and attracts its fair share of productions despite a higher price point than many Eastern European neighbours.
Filming in Germany
Studio Babelsberg is one of Germany’s top studio facilities with 22 separate sound stages, the largest of which spans nearly 80,000 sq ft. The studio recently hosted The French Dispatch, Charlie’s Angels and The Girl in the Spider’s Web.
Germany has some top class facilities and attracts its fair share of productions despite a higher price point than many Eastern European neighbours. Sci-fi feature Stowaway, about an unwanted passenger on a mission to Mars who damages the spaceship’s life support systems, shot between Bavaria Studios in Munich and MMC in Cologne. Wes Anderson also returned to Berlin’s Babelsberg to shoot his latest feature The French Dispatch.
The country has a network of location offices and film commissions that provide consulting and access to local authorities, government departments and companies.
The post-production sector is thriving with Hollywood and companies such Pixmondo have offices in Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Rise FX has also provided VFX services for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange.
The German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) is the federal rebate scheme offering grants of up to 25%, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the Bavarian Film and Television Fund and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) are the principal sources of production support.
Climate
Germany’s climate is moderate. Northern and coastal Germany have a maritime climate characterised by warm summers and mild winters. Further south the climate is continental, marked by greater variations in temperature, with warmer summers and colder winters and snow guaranteed. Winter in Germany lasts from December until March, summer from June until September.
Our Partner
Founded in 1972, our German partner is a creative film production company managed by Philipp Schwinger. They incorporate new talent and strive to implement the latest technologies to benefit your production. They have shot and serviced projects in Germany, Switzerland & Austria and most of Europe, as well as New Zealand, South Africa, Buenos Aires and the United States.
Whether it’s for corporate or 360’ immersive experiences, they’ll help you get the results you require. And their testimonials endorse this. Whether you are an agency, a client, or a fellow production company, they will bid on your project and show you how easy, fun and cost-efficient it can be to produce quality commercials at the highest standard.
They produce mobile content, TV commercials, videos (including 360 content), along with augmented and virtual reality experiences – all at the highest level. If you require just production services, you will also get the latest technological know-how in the industry.
Tax Breaks & Incentives
The German Federal Film Fund (DFFF I) is open to small and medium-sized projects with total production costs of up to $19.9m (€20m). It offers a rebate of up to 20% of German production costs to a cap of $3.9m (€4m) for features, documentaries and animation films spending at least 25% of their total budget in the country and guaranteeing a German theatrical release. A total of $54.9m (€55m) was paid out in grants to 32 international and 57 German projects in 2021.
Production service providers can apply to DFFF II for funding of up to 25% of approved costs for projects with total production costs of $19.9m (€20m) or more. The minimum German spend here is $7.9m (€8m) for features and $1.9m (€2m) for animated films and films with virtually animated components. The maximum amount paid out to a single film in 2021 was $19.7m (€19.8m) to Lionsgate’s . This fund has an annual budget of $74.9m (€75m), but only $42.3m (€42.4m) was allocated to seven projects in 2021.
Meanwhile, increased demand by producers for funding from the German Motion Picture Fund (GMPF) has seen its budget increase this year to $74.9m (€75m) from $49.9m (€50m), targeting TV series with total production costs of at least $29,900 (€30,000) per minute for fiction and $8,900 (€9,000) per minute for documentary series. Nineteen series were supported by GMPF in 2021, with Netflix’s 1899 receiving the highest single payment of $9.9m (€10m).
Recent Credits
Production houses: RSA, Stink, RadicalMedia, Caviar, Hungry Man, Believe Media, Warner Bros, Czar, Focus Features, Framework, Reset Content, The Directors Bureau, Framestore, Mother, MJZ, Pinewood, Smith & Jones, Gang Films, PSA, Quad, TF1, U turn PH, Dentsu, Scale, The Shanghai Job
Directors: Quentin Tarantino, Sofia Coppola, Abigail Fuller, Bart Timmer, Errol Morris, Harald Zwart, Karim Huu Do, Lesley Chilcott, Lieven van Baelen, Markus Walter, Martin Werner, Peter Thwaites, Philippe André, and Reynald Gresset
I had the chance to work with Philipp and his team on several communication projects for different major brands within the last few years. I can highly recommend [them] for your communication tasks.
Dieter Lutz Marketing Director D/A/CH Bahlsen
Interested in filming in Germany?
Let us put you in touch with the right production service company abroad. Simply fill out your requirements and we will get the right service partner for your pitch reaching out to you directly, saving you time and stress.
