Preparatory Action Writing European

Increased global competition in the audiovisual sector makes international cooperation in scriptwriting ever more crucial. Such cooperation is particularly necessary at European level to allow European players to scale up and face the increasing risk of ‘brain-drain’ of European audiovisual professionals towards third countries.

The objective of the proposed scheme is to respond to the need for European storytelling suitable for co-production and that can travel across borders.

In addition, in order to bring out stories that reflect our European culture, both the one that we have in common and the one specific to our respective countries, we must encourage the emergence of strong teams of creators (e.g. screenwriters, showrunners, other authors, etc.) from several Member States.

Themes and priorities

The purpose of this preparatory action “Writing European” is to help the European audiovisual industry to develop excellence in creating and writing high-quality drama content and foster innovative storytelling. It aims to promote co-writing practices, thereby also enlarging the experience of creative talents working on fiction series.

Applicants are invited to setup creative hubs that can achieve the above objectives as well as the following priorities:

• Improve the knowledge and capacity of creative talents in the creation of fiction series and foster the emergence of strong teams/hubs of European creative talents (e.g. scriptwriters, editors, showrunners, producers) coming from diverse backgrounds and nationalities;
• Facilitate collaborations that follow a learning-by-doing approach, enabling creative talents to work on a set of different projects in parallel;
• Identify and implement working methods for co-writing, from the conceptualisation and early stage of storytelling, to matchmaking with potential buyers;
• Ensure contacts with industry leaders, producers or commissioners of audiovisual works (e.g. distributors, buyers, platforms, broadcasters) to enhance the talents’ understanding of the market trends and dynamics;
• Scout and select talents, for instance through open calls or prizes;
• Enhance the use of:
  • innovative technologies and market intelligence that can affect the creative process (e.g. cognitive neuroscience, data analytics, artificial intelligence);
  • intellectual property rights management as it secures creative autonomy and fair remuneration of creators.

Proposals should contribute to the green transition, embody European principles and values, such as equal treatment, diversity and gender balance, as well as fair remuneration of creators in line with market conditions and prices.

Activities that can be funded

Support will be given to projects that facilitate creative hubs, e.g. writing rooms or other collaborative settings, aimed at the co-creation of European audiovisual works. Such hubs will act as accelerators or incubators of talents, by proposing innovative methods to select and guide talented writers from pre-writing/conceptualisation to the actual writing of fiction series projects and potential matchmaking with buyers.

The projects should involve European talents as directly as possible. The objective of the action being enhancing and enabling creativity, talents across the EU should be empowered to intensify their cooperation. Authors should be working within ad hoc creative labs or writing rooms that have as primary goal the improvement of the creative process. At the same time, through exchanges with audiovisual professionals, authors should become more aware of the potential of their creative input, in artistic as well as in exploitation and dissemination terms.

Potential applicants and beneficiaries include production companies, film funding agencies, networks or groupings of audiovisual creatives or entities supporting creative talent, such as creative labs, training organisations, broadcasters, video on demand (VOD) platforms and international markets.

The following types of activities are eligible under this call for proposals:

• activities related to co-writing/concept development/pre-writing/conceptualisation for the creation of high-level European fiction series content (including through support to third parties such as scriptwriters, authors, showrunners, producers or other members of the creative team);
• activities of the collaborative hub/writers-room, in particular organising the process of co-creating European fiction series, including coordination tasks, mentoring activities, governance or management, activities of match-making with potential buyers;
• advertising or promotion, in particular to scout for new talents or organise a competition to ensure excellence and diverse participation in the project;
• activities aimed at the creation and dissemination of replicable innovative models and methodologies for writing high-end European audiovisual content;
• data studies, research, including the use of digital technologies that can affect the creative process (e.g. cognitive neuroscience or artificial intelligence tools) or market intelligence and audience measurements directly related to the needs of the project;
• dissemination activities and promotion of the project’s results.

Projects that are already eligible in the framework of the Creative Europe Programme, are not eligible, such as:

• projects submitted by individual/a group of writers, scriptwriters, authors or producers aiming at the development of a pre-defined (slate of) audiovisual work(s);
• projects primarily focusing on training activities.

Expected impact

The project should involve creative talents throughout Europe. It should stimulate exchanges at European level and foster participation of creatives from different backgrounds in order to come up with stories that reflect the diversity of European societies. Ultimately, this will be a vector to reach out to new transnational audiences.

It is expected to catalyse innovation in the audiovisual creative process to encompass all mediums of expression.

Furthermore, it should ensure coherence between high-quality storytelling and high-quality audiovisual content, as well as enhance cross-border collaboration among European talents.