Film funding:Government gets serious with investment obligation for Netflix & Co

Significantly more money is to flow into film funding in Germany. Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) and the Minister of State for Culture and the Media, Wolfram Weimer (non-party), have agreed on this. The increase is to be coupled with an investment obligation for streaming providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney in German film productions. The amount of this obligation is not yet known. The next steps are the draft of an investment obligation law, its departmental coordination and an industry consultation.

According to the agreement, 250 million euros are to be made available for Germany as a film location from next year. This means an almost doubling of funding for the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) and the German Motion Picture Fund (GMPF). The Federal Cabinet approved this plan as part of the government's draft for the 2026 federal budget. Together with other funds from cultural film funding, which are awarded by juries, and the German Federal Film Board, which is financed by the film tax, a total of around 310 million euros will be available in the future. This will be supplemented by production subsidies from the federal states.

“We need more blockbusters and hit series made in Germany,” emphasized Weimer. The planned measures are “the soundtrack to a new beginning”. The film promotion funds would thus be “equipped to compete internationally”. Klingbeil added: “Film funding is money very well invested in culture in Germany.”

“Imbalance” in the market due to streamers

Weimer recently identified “structural distortions caused by digital platforms and streaming providers” in the media and film industry. An “imbalance” has arisen. Netflix & Co generate high revenues in Germany and should therefore contribute to Germany as a production location. The mastermind behind the current agreement is the new State Secretary of Finance, Björn Böhning (SPD), who was previously head of the German film and TV industry's production alliance.

The old German government already dared to push for such a Lex Netflix: 20 percent of streaming revenues were to be spent on European audiovisual productions. Similar obligations or levies already exist in Switzerland, several EU countries and Canada, albeit with requirements in the single-digit percentage range, not 20 percent. Italy requires streamers to pay 16 percent, of which 30 percent may flow into non-Italian European productions. In France, streamers are required to spend at least 20% of their revenues on rights to French productions.

The digital industry in particular has been up in arms against the old government's plans. Their argument: streamers are already spending hundreds of millions of euros a year in Germany, in addition to the mandatory film tax. An investment obligation law would in no way guarantee that more money would flow into German productions.

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