Can I still apply for the Film Production Incentive once shooting has started?

In principle, no. The Netherlands Film Fund only awards the Netherlands Film Production Incentive if, at the time of the award, the film has not yet gone into production in whole or in part and has not been released. That follows from article 7(6) of the Reglement Stimuleringsmaatregel Filmproductie in Nederland, the Dutch regulations governing the Incentive. The Fund’s board can grant an exemption on a reasoned written request. You then have to show that the full financing is unconditionally in place and that your other financiers agree to an amended financing plan. The Incentive must also not lead to the film being overfinanced.

Can I offer the Incentive grant as security to a bank or cashflow lender?

No. Under article 8(4) of the Reglement Stimuleringsmaatregel Filmproductie in Nederland, the rights and obligations arising from an award of the Netherlands Film Production Incentive cannot be transferred. Nor may you encumber them or use them as security in any other way. The timing of payment matters for your cashflow planning too. You apply for the final determination of the grant within four months of the film’s first release. The Netherlands Film Fund pays within eight weeks of the determination decision. Whether you receive advances before then is governed by the implementation agreement.

What is the maximum Film Production Incentive I can receive?

The Netherlands Film Production Incentive amounts to 35 per cent of the qualifying production costs approved by the Netherlands Film Fund. Qualifying costs can make up no more than 80 per cent of your total production costs. On award, the Fund increases the grant by up to 10 per cent to cover necessary additional spending during production and post-production. Each applicant is capped at €3 million in Incentive grants per calendar year. If the film also receives other grants from the Fund or another Dutch public body, total state aid may not exceed 50 per cent of the production costs. For an international co-production financed by more than one EU member state, that limit is 60 per cent.

Which costs do not count towards the Film Production Incentive?

Annex 1 to the Reglement Stimuleringsmaatregel Filmproductie in Nederland, the qualification test, excludes a range of costs. The costs of running your own company, such as office rent and administration, do not count. The same goes for overheads and for development costs already incurred. Financing and audit costs are excluded, as are legal and tax costs. The producer’s fee only counts up to 7.5 per cent of qualifying costs. Rights fees for material not made specifically for the film, such as book and format rights or existing music, do not count either. What remains only qualifies if you spend it directly with parties that are liable to tax in the Netherlands and not affiliated with you.

Do the Incentive regulations of 1 July 2026 apply to my application?

The Reglement Stimuleringsmaatregel Filmproductie in Nederland as in force from 1 July 2026 applies to applications the Netherlands Film Fund received on or after that date. Applications received before 1 July 2026 remain subject to the regulations of 1 January 2025. The film regulations cover feature films, documentaries and animated films intended primarily for cinema release. For high-end series the Film Fund has separate regulations, published in the Dutch Government Gazette (Staatscourant) on 15 July 2026.

The Netherlands Film Production Incentive of the Netherlands Film Fund

The Netherlands Film Production Incentive is a grant from the Netherlands Film Fund that covers 35 per cent of the qualifying production costs a feature film, documentary or animated film can show it spent in the Netherlands, provided the production is independent and scores at least 75 points in the points system.

You fill in the application form with the Film Fund. Whether the application holds up depends largely on agreements you make with other people. The Fund looks at who has final cut and how long a broadcaster or streamer gets the Dutch broadcasting rights on an exclusive basis. The director you list in the points system also has to stay on board after the award.

An offer from a distributor or broadcaster is best tested before you sign. After that there is little room left to move. We would rather read your agreements before the application goes in. Call 020 675 88 21 or send us a message using the form at the bottom of this page.

What the Netherlands Film Production Incentive asks of your contracts

The Reglement Stimuleringsmaatregel Filmproductie in Nederland, the regulations governing the Incentive, sets requirements at the application stage that you can only meet with signed documents. Half of the financing must already be committed unconditionally, through decisions or written commitments from third parties. Besides the Fund, at least two financiers that are not affiliated with each other must take part. Distributors and other parties that have committed to the film provide a declaration. The underlying contracts must be disclosed in full as well.

You also declare that you and any co-producers hold the exclusive film adaptation and exploitation rights, or an option on them. Without a sound chain of title you cannot sign that declaration with any confidence. A screenwriter’s assignment that was never put in writing surfaces at this point already.

The thresholds are specific. A feature film or animated film needs production costs of at least €1 million, a documentary €250,000. You spend at least €150,000 of qualifying costs in the Netherlands, or €100,000 for a documentary.

The application also includes a declaration that everyone working on the film applies the Fair Practice Code, the Code Diversity & Inclusion and the Governance Code Culture. That declaration only means something if your cast and crew contracts are set up to match.

More about the chain of title →

The independence test and your agreements with distributors and broadcasters

Only an independent film production qualifies for the Incentive. The Film Fund measures this with its own points count in annex 3 to the regulations. You can score 200 points and you need at least 100. A media company cannot apply itself. Nor can a production company whose policy a media company can determine to a significant extent.

Most of the points follow from what you agree with the distributor and with the party that shows the film to the public, which the regulations call the eindexploitant. That covers everything from a cinema or broadcaster to a streaming service.

Final cut comes first. If the decisive say lies with you as producer or with the director, that earns 20 points. If you share it with the distributor or eindexploitant, it drops to 10. The same split applies to control over the screenplay and the key creative positions. Who took the initiative and who developed the screenplay also count.

If all the intellectual property rights in the film stay with you, possibly together with a foreign co-producer, you score 40 points. If you transfer part of them to the distributor or eindexploitant, you can still earn 20. For that you do need to keep a material share in the exploitation income.

The length of exclusivity also weighs heavily. Alongside a theatrical release through a distributor, the Fund looks at how long you grant the Dutch broadcasting rights exclusively to a single eindexploitant. Five years at most earns 40 points. Seven years earns 30, ten years 20. If you choose the sales agent yourself, or share exploitation revenue at least in proportion to the financing, you earn extra points for international visibility.

A streamer that wants ten years’ exclusivity and shared final cut therefore costs you 30 points on a test where you need 100. Run the numbers on an offer before you sign.

More about the distribution agreement →

Points you claim in the application have to be delivered in production

The points system first decides your place in the ranking of an application round and then what you have to deliver. Under article 13 of the regulations you make the film in line with the points system you completed in the application. Until the Fund has determined the final grant, it can reduce or withdraw it under article 20 if you fail to meet your obligations. That decision in principle takes effect from the date the grant was awarded.

There is little room to manoeuvre. Points for creative talent and crew and points for post-production can be swapped between them, for instance when a role moves abroad. Your total must then stay the same or go up. All other points are fixed, including those for diversity, sustainability and the Bechdel test.

A Dutch head of department drops out halfway through, or a scene that carries points is cut in the edit. Points lost that way do not come back.

So record in the director’s agreement and the screenplay agreement which points depend on those creators. Agree the same in the crew contracts. Settle as well who bears the loss if the grant still comes out lower.

Incentive deadlines between award and first day of shooting

Once the Netherlands Film Production Incentive has been awarded, the clock is running. Before the first day of shooting you submit the final financing agreements with every party contributing to the financing, no later than six months after the award. Those documents have to show that each financier has committed unconditionally, on terms compatible with the grant.

Shooting can only start after that. The Fund first confirms to you that you have met this requirement. If a completion bond is required, the guarantor must have given final cover. The Fund can make a bond compulsory for a production it considers risky, with the Fund as co-beneficiary. For an international co-production you also submit the approval from each country of origin under the Council of Europe convention on cinematographic co-production.

From the signing of the implementation agreement you have 24 months to complete the film and release it. If a delay is looming or the film plan changes, you notify the Fund straight away.

Those deadlines feed into your other contracts. A financier that will only sign after the first day of shooting puts the entire Incentive at risk. So does a co-producer still waiting on a fund of its own.

The implementation agreement with the Film Fund

The award is followed by an implementation agreement with the Film Fund, in Dutch the uitvoeringsovereenkomst. The award only takes effect once it is in place. It sets out what security you provide for the commitments of your other financiers and how often you report. It also covers how exploitation revenue is divided between the Fund, the other financiers and the rightsholders.

The regulations require you to repay the grant out of the income the film generates. That position has to fit into the recoupment waterfall you agree with your other financiers.

Parties whose services count towards the amount of the grant sign the Verklaring Uitvoerenden en Leveranciers, a declaration for performers and suppliers. In it they confirm, among other things, that they are liable to tax in the Netherlands and perform the services themselves. The Fund can also inspect their records where needed. Build that into your supplier contracts. Otherwise you are left empty-handed when a facilities company refuses to sign.

On award you also agree to preservation of the film by EYE Film Instituut Nederland, the national film institute. You give permission free of charge for non-commercial educational use and for a special screening of national importance to the Dutch film climate, unless that would harm your interests disproportionately. Do your contracts with creators and licensors actually allow that?

More about the film financing agreement →

Who applies for the Incentive in a minority co-production

Even where the Netherlands is the smaller partner, the Dutch producer can apply for the Netherlands Film Production Incentive. The rights then usually sit with the foreign lead producer. The regulations accept that, provided the lead producer holds the rights needed to make and show the film. Exploitation and screening in the Netherlands must be guaranteed. The film is released in cinemas in the lead producer’s country, plus a release in the Netherlands, theatrical or otherwise. In principle you hold the distribution rights for the Netherlands.

The points system takes your position into account. In a Dutch minority co-production the points for creative talent and crew count double, up to a maximum of 75. The points for post-production in the Netherlands count one and a half times.

You carry the risk of the grant, while the edit and the screenplay often sit with your partner. Record in the co-production agreement which departments work in the Netherlands and who edits the film. Agree too which figures your partner supplies, because at the accounting stage the Fund also checks what your co-producers spent outside the Netherlands.

More about the co-production agreement →

A lawyer for your Netherlands Film Production Incentive application

At Liaise we have been working for film producers for more than 35 years. Before the application we test the offers from distributors and broadcasters against the independence test. We check the chain of title behind your declaration on rights. In your contracts with the director, screenwriter, crew and co-producer we put down what your points need. After the award we review the implementation agreement with you.

The Fund decides on the award itself, based on the ranking in the application round.

Is an application round coming up? Call 020 675 88 21 or send your question using the form below.

Practice area

Roland Wigman

Lawyer

Roland knows everything about film law and film copyright. After a brief career as a film producer, he has been assisting film producers, film financiers, film distributors and creators for more than 35 years. Both nationally and internationally.

Merel Teunissen

Lawyer

Merel advises and litigates in the fields of media law, film law, copyright, privacy law, contract law and intellectual property law. She acts for established and emerging media personalities, producers in film, television and podcasts, victims of unlawful publications and creative entrepreneurs.