Series financed by the international streaming platforms were the main beneficiaries of the TV-focused German Motion Picture Fund (GMPF) in the first six months of 2026.
Fifteen local and international TV series received almost 90% of the total €70m paid out to the German producers and co-producers of these series.
They included the eight-part limited series Wild Things, produced by the US’ Imagine Entertainment and in Germany by Henning Molfenter’s Berlin Production Group for Apple TV+, which received the maximum payout of €20m. Wild Things stars Andrew Garfield and Jude Law as German-born magicians Siegfried & Roy,
The second-largest tranche of GMPF funding of €15.6m went to Potsdam-based Three Raccoons Production as the local producer of Netflix’s limited series The Boys From Brazil.
Created by Peter Morgan, the historical thriller is based on the 1976 novel by Ira Levin about a Nazi hunter’s pursuit of Josef Mengele. Jeremy Strong, August Diehl, Daniel Brühl, Gillian Anderson. Shira Haas and Lizzy Caplan star in the series that is produced by the UK’s World Productions and Orchid Pictures. It is set in Germany.
The third biggest grant was via Studio Babelsberg single-purpose vehicle, 58. Babelsberg Film, which was awarded €10.3m for its co-production of Apple TV+’s The Alex, an adaptation of Philip Kerr’s final novel in the Berlin Noir series, Metropolis.
UK actors Jack Lowden, Colin Firth and Amir El-Masry star in the series that is produced by the UK’s Bad Wolf with Tom Hanks’ outfit Playtone. The Alex follows police officer Bernie Gunther, newly promoted to the Berlin Murder Squad in 1928. The adaptation has been written by Peter Straughan.
International hub
The GMPF aims to attract international TV films and series to Germany to strengthen and enhance the attractiveness, competitiveness and innovative force of the country as an international film hub and contribute to the maintenance and expansion of the audiovisual infrastructure in Germany and the promotion of technical and creative services in the film industry.
Grant applications must score a total of 40 points in a three-pronged cultural test comprised of cultural content, creative talents and production. Points for the latter category can be achieved by studio or location shooting, VFX animation or music recording in Germany,
No TV films applied for support in the first half of 2026.
Both the GMPF and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) production incentive, aimed at theatrical features, are administered by the German Federal Film Board (FFA). Both offer non-repayable automatic grants of up to 30% of eligible costs and have a combined budget of €250m for 2026. It was increased this year as part of the package of funding reforms, the final pillar of which is the introduction of a local investment obligation for local and international streamers in January 2027.
