On 12 January 2011 the European Commission announced the creation of a loan guarantee fund to make easier for film producers to access bank financing. The MEDIA Production Guarantee Fund will support film producers throughout Europe helping, for example, to cover a proportion of a loan in the event of non-payment by a producer due to bankruptcy.

The MEDIA Production Guarantee Fund will count with 8 million euro as maximum funding  and will be managed by the Commission and two operators with a long-standing expertise in this area, the French Institute for the Financing of Cinema and Cultural Industries (Institut pour le Financement du Cinéma et des Industries Culturelles, 'IFCIC') and Spain's Guarantee Society for the Audiovisual Sector (Sociedad de Garantia reciproca para el Sector Audiovisual, 'Audiovisual SGR').

This financial instrument specially designed for the audiovisual sector aims at bridging the gap of the available resources for European producers seeking financing for their projects which often faced to many difficulties when presenting them to banks. The Commission expects to bring the necessary support and estimates that, thanks to the leveraging effect of the Fund, more than 100 million euro will be freed up for loans to film producers, many of whom are small or medium sized businesses.

MEDIA Production Guarantee Fund

The Fund will run until the end of 2013 and its total funding will be managed by half by the two selected institutions, i.e. both IFCIC and Audiovisual SGR will receive a total of 4 million euro each from the Fund. Any money that is not used from the Fund will be returned to the EU budget.

Film producers are eligible for support from the Fund if they are established in any of the 32 countries which currently participate in the MEDIA programme namely the 27 EU Member States, countries in the European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) as well as Switzerland and Croatia.