Locations
The major cities, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main all have unique and colorful neighborhoods and historical sites as well as very distinctive modern areas. These offer great non-descriptive, modern looks of an international city featuring architectural styles incorporating urban style composed of steel and glass elements.
Germany offers a broad range of landscapes, all very typically middle to eastern European. There are parts of the Alps in southeastern Germany, lush green hills and valleys in the west and an abundance of picturesque shores and islands on the country’s coast of the North and Baltic Seas.
Why come to Germany
Germany is home to one of the oldest and most well-developed film industries worldwide. From world-renowned production companies and film studios, such as Europe’s oldest film studio the Studio Babelsberg (Matrix, Grand Budapest Hotel, The Hunger Games) to camera and lighting manufacturers like ARRI, ZEISS, GFM and many more that set industry standards in terms of innovation and technology, Germany has it all.
The country boasts Oscar-awarded Art Department and SFX personnel as well as well-skilled crew members, state of the art equipment that supports the execution of large-scale film shoots, good transportation links between all major cities, tax incentives for foreign productions, and lots of multicultural and multifaceted areas around the country for casting.
Previous Clients
Production houses:
1st Ave Machine, Akita Films, Believe Media, Boardwalk Pictures, Bonkers, BWGTBLD, C41, Caviar, Craft Worlwide, CZAR, Dentsu Creative X, Element Productions, Focus Features, Framestore, Framework, Furlined, Gang Films, Hey Wonderful, Holiday Films, Hungry Man, Inner City Films, Logan & Sons, Lucky Punk, M ss ng P eces, MJZ, Mother, Native Content, Pinewood Productions, Prettybird, PSA, Quad, Rabbit Content, RadicalMedia, Recommended Media, Reset Content, RSA, Scale, Smith & Jones, Stink, Synergy Films, TF1, The Corner Shop, The Directors Bureau, The Family Film, The Shanghai JobThink Cattleya, U turn PH, Warner Bros, Woodpecker Film, Zwart Arbeid, ...
Directors:
Abigail Fuller, Ai Weiwei, Alberto Colombo, Anton Tammi, Bart Timmer, Bastian Glaesner, Ben Conrad, Bharat Nalluri, Bruce St Clair, Cynthia Wade, Danielle Levitt, Dimitri Karakatsanis, Errol Morris, Harald Zwaart, Hauke Hilberg, Jaron Albertin, Joe Vanhoutteghem, Karim Huu Do, Lesley Chilcott, Lieven van Baelen, Luca Maroni, Mackenzie Sheppard, Markus Walter, Martin Werner, Maurice Marable, Max Malkin, Michel Comte, Mick Jackson, Nabil , Neil Abramson, Nick Ball, Nico Beyer, Pablo Larrain, Pantera, Paul Donovan, Pekka Hara, Peter Thwaites, Philippe André, Quentin Tarantino, Ralf Schmerberg, Reynald GressetRobert Adetuyi, Sam Spiegel, Simon Verhoeven, Sofia Coppola, Stefanie Soho, Toon Aerts, Tucker Walsh, Wendy McColm, Werner Damen, ...
Sustainability
SHOTZ Production Service has joines the Ad Green initative in 2020 and is committed to reducing emissions during production.
Incentives
Germany and its German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) support local and international filmmakers with 200 million Euros per year.
Cinema releases are eligible for grants of up to 25 million euros, high-end series & TV/VOD releases for up to 10 million euros.
Locations
When it comes to locations, Germany offers typical middle to eastern European backdrops. From the Bavarian Alps in the south, to the lush green hills and valleys of the west, and the sandy shores and windswept islands of the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
Both the summer and winter seasons offer great locations. During the colder months from November to February, the mountainous regions in the south offer spectacular snowy landscapes. From March to October, you’ll find scenic backdrops throughout the country, for instance, rugged hills, rich farmland, and even charming villages and vineyards.
Moving around locations is easy, with good transportation links between all major cities, such as Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, and Frankfurt. In these locations, you can find diverse and colorful neighborhoods, historic sites, and distinctive contemporary areas for scenes that require a global, urban cityscape. These multi-cultural and multi-faceted areas mean that diverse casting is not a problem.
Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne also offer state of the art sound stages such as the Studios Babelsberg close to Berlin. In recent years LED stages have opened their doors and can be found in Berlin, Cologne and Munich.
Previous Clients
Zwart Arbeid, CBS, Sony Pictures, Inner City Films, eOne, TF1 Production, M4 Films, Pinewood Films, TPB OTP Production, Boardwalk Pictures, BATS Film, The Apartment, Komplizen Film, Fabula, ...
Sustainability
SHOTZ Production Service has joines the Ad Green initative in 2020 and is committed to reducing emissions during production.
Incentives
Germany currently has the DFFF I and II.
- DFFF I - 20-30% of net production costs need to be spent in Germany; max. funding: 4 Mio. EUR
- DFFF II - Projects with 8 Mio. EUR net production costs spent in Germany and total production costs of 20 Mio. EUR.; max. funding: 25 % of net production costs spent in Germany; max. 25 Mio. EUR
The German ministry of culture has recently announced a restructuring of the German film funding system that will come into effect in 2025. We expect more tax incentives to follow.
