Government sponsored grant and subsidy schemes are not available in all countries in Europe. The biggest scheme operates in France with a big role played by French broadcasters. Germany has largely regional schemes, although the establishment of dedicated Animation Investment Funds in Germany, such as the Berlin Animation Fund and the Victory Media Management Fund, has combined regional and commercial funding into a powerful investment resource.

Under the auspices of the E.U., the Media programme provides support for the development of certain projects in the form of loans for up to 50% of the development cost, which are repayable once a project goes into production. In the U.K. there are certain tax advantages for private investors in production.

All of the above entail compliance with various rules and conditions. In particular, the French schemes and, to a lesser degree, the German and U.K. schemes require that various percentages of the total work required to complete the production are undertaken in the country originating the scheme by an indigenous production company.

As a recent in-depth world-wide survey of the animation industry suggested, co-producers from other countries may find under these schemes that they have to sacrifice a disproportionate share of work and sometimes of revenues. Our view is that if it can be made to work, for the right production, that's great -- there is, after all, no such thing as a free lunch, but very often it's a case of making that "mini-skirt" from other sources, be they broadcasters, distributors, banks or other production companies.

Daunted? If you're European, you can't be. It comes with the territory (or should I say territories?!). If you're non-European, stick with us kid! Your European partner will, of necessity, work it out.

As Preston is about to find out, choosing the wrong production partner can turn green pastures into perilous situations! Preston Pig. © ITV, Link and Varga Budapest.

First Things First
There are three basic tenets to co-development and co-production (whether in Europe or internationally):

1. Find the right partners

This may appear self-evident, but for us at Varga this is key. In our view, too many projects in Europe have ended up being made with the wrong partners purely because they could bring in a certain subsidy or access to finance with the result that it shows on the screen -- the infamous "euro-pudding" applied to animation.

A. Mutually creative vision and goals
Developing relationships is key. The many conventions and conferences held under the auspices of CARTOON and the commercial TV and dedicated animation markets held in Europe help in this respect, but of course personal day-to-day development of relationships is what really counts.

Similarity in artistic vision and standards of quality are crucial in a co-development or co-production, as is the need for the management of the respective companies (on the macro-level) and the managers of the project (on the micro-level) to get on with and understand one another.

Even though there is often one 'lead' partner (usually where the project originated), we are dealing with production where elements will be undertaken in two or more locations by a multi-cultural crew, overseen by directors and senior managers from two or more countries. Whilst modern technology and ISDN lines help enormously, it's still about people and creative people at that.