TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE TRAINING PROGRAMME, PARTICIPANTS NEED TO BE BASED IN A EUROPEAN COUNTRY OR IN A COUNTRY PARTICIPATING IN THE CREATIVE EUROPE MEDIA PROGRAMME.

***BESIDES THE EU MEMBER STATES, THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES ARE IN THE CREATIVE EUROPE PROGRAMME: ICELAND, NORWAY, LIECHTENSTEIN, ALBANIA, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA, NORTH MACEDONIA, MONTENEGRO, NORTH MACEDONIA, REPUBLIC OF SERBIA, GEORGIA, MOLDOVA, UKRAINE, TUNISIA, ARMENIA AND KOSOVO. PARTICIPANTS FROM THE UK ARE ALSO ELIGIBLE TO APPLY.***

IF AN APPLICATION IS NOT BASED IN ONE OF THESE ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES, IT WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

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**EUROPE'S NUMBER 1 TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR FACTUAL PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT**

A unique opportunity not to be missed - here's your chance to experience a career-changing 10-month training and professional development journey with a rich mix of talented fellow filmmakers to:
o Produce your documentary/factual project
o Significantly expand your professional network
o Massively boost your filmmaking career

The Documentary Campus Masterschool (DCM) is dedicated to the development of high quality factual content for international audiences.

For over 20 years the Masterschool has carefully matched talented European media professionals (both aspiring and experienced) with key players in the international industry. Top experts and brilliant mentors help with the development, financing and marketing of factual films and formats, for the traditional TV market, festivals and digital platforms.

Our mission is to empower you to find your voice, develop your story and navigate the global market by providing tailored training in skills that will have a lasting impact on your career, including:
- Storytelling techniques and structures for non-fiction
- Casting & research
- Professional pitching
- International co-producing & financing
- Budgeting & legal affairs
- Audience design & online marketing
- Impact producing & sustainable production.

Since the first Masterschool in 2001, it has been behind a host of brilliant films, including the festival hit 'Notes on Blindness' and its sister VR experience 'Into Darkness'; Slovenia’s official Oscar entry 'Houston, we have a Problem' and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Hanna Polak's 'Something Better to Come'.

Some 70% of Masterschool projects go into production.

ALL THIS AND MORE FOR €0 IN LECTURE FEES

We pride ourselves on being an affordable training initiative, enabling a diverse range of filmmakers to participate. Masterschool has no lecture fees and no application fees. Scholarships are also available for travel costs to workshops and industry events.
For more information about the cost of Masterschool visit our FAQs.

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WHO WILL MOSLTY BENEFIT?

The Masterschool is focused on European media professionals (directors, producers, authors) who are:
• experienced in their domestic markets (generally at least two years' experience in the industry)
• ambitious to work on an international level
• with a strong, reasonably advanced documentary/factual project for an international audience (can be single or series, long form, short-form series, multiplatform, format etc.)
• open to learn and adapt their project to the needs of their target market
• open to new business strategies/models
• with sufficient English language skills to be able to follow the lectures/workshops well

WE ARE LOOKING FOR…

• All types of factual-based content incl. TV series & one-offs, creative docs, multiplatform, Digital First, shorts series, animation, VR/XR productions
• All genres incl. history, science, arts/culture, human interest, environmental, wildlife/natural history
• Great documentary story ideas, especially ones suitable for multiplatform exploitation and striving to make an impact
• Stories and characters that will appeal to global audiences
• Projects experimenting with newer formats (eg digital first short-form series)
• Projects seeking a European co-production partner
• Experiments in alternative methods of exploitation and financing (e.g. crowdfunding)

Documentary Campus encourages applications from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds.

**NOTE: Projects that have already been pitched at an international pitch event are NOT eligible. The pitch at the DC PITCHING must be a PREMIERE/the 1st public pitch.**

Rules & Terms

HOW TO APPLY

The following MUST be included in your FilmFreeway project page, all in English:

**Profile**: (1) Synopsis (2) Still Images/Key Visuals (3) team/company information incl. director/producer CVs & profile pictures and company profile, if applicable (4) full contact details

The following documents MUST be UPDLOADED to section “Files & Attachments”, all in English:

**Treatment**: Maximum 2-page Treatment including title, logline, concept, themes, story summary summary (approx. 10 lines) and key character descriptions.

**Access**: Evidence of access to key characters or institutions. This can be presented as a written statement in your treatment and/or as part of your teaser. (Releases of main protagonists MUST be signed by the second DCM Workshop).

**Budget**: 1st draft budget and financing plan.
ALL 3 IN ONE PDF named “Treatment | Access | Budget”

**Profile**: Team & Company information incl. director/producer CVs & profile pictures and company profile, if applicable
ONE PDF named “Profiles”

**Letter of Recommendation**: A letter of recommendation from a commissioner, funder, recognised production house or reputed distributor
ONE PDF named “Letter of Recommendation”

Additionally, the following materials MUST be UPLOAD in your FilmFreeway project page, all in English or with English subtitles:

**Self-Presentation Video**: UPLOAD a short video (max. 4 mins) explaining your motivation to take part in the Masterschool

**Teaser**: UPLOAD a Teaser/sizzle or character reel of key protagonists (max. 3 mins) (NOTE: If you have no video/recorded material, please provide a Mood Board indicating the style/overall feel of your project);

**Showreel**: SHARE LINK to a brief showreel of your previous work (max. 3 mins) - SHARE LINK in the "News & Reviews" section and name it “Showreel”

NOTE: All documents submitted must be in PDF format. All materials must be submitted in English. All video must be in English or have English subtitles.

IMPORTANT: Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.

For additional information click here to see our guide "How to apply via FilmFreeway".
You can also refer to the FAQ section on our website.

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RULES AND REGULATIONS

Documentary Campus gGmbh is a non-profit organisation registered in Munich, Germany. The Documentary Campus Masterschool (DCM) is a European training programme supported and funded by the European Union's Creative Europe Media Programme; German and European film/media foundations; commercial and public broadcasters; production and distribution companies; local, regional and national authorities; as well as institutions active in the European documentary sector.

Submission of a project (“Project”) to the Documentary Campus Masterschool is subject to and conditional on the “Entrants” accepting the following rules and terms:

1. Submission Guidelines:

1.1. Deadlines:

Submission is open through FilmFreeway.
The official entry deadline for all submissions is 23:59 CET on 1 December 2025.
(Late submissions are at the discretion of Documentary Campus.)

1.2. Entry Fees:
No entry fees apply.

1.3. Categories & Eligibility:
The training programme of the Documentary Campus Masterschool is open to new (ideally with two or three years in the industry) and established film and television producers/directors,/authors) and media professionals, based in Europe.

Submissions are accepted for **factual content in development only** of all formats
and genres (see a We are looking for… section above)

N.B. Projects that have already been pitched at an international pitch event are ineligible. The pitch at the DC PITCHING FORUM must be a PREMIERE. If in doubt of eligibility, please contact the team at a.petrus@documentary-campus.com before submitting.

The Entrant requires good knowledge of the English language to be eligible.

1.4. Submission Process:
All Entrants are required to fill in the Project Page and Submission Form online on the FilmFreeway platform for each project submitted. Each participant may apply with up to two projects.

All submissions must be submitted in English and accompanied by the materials detailed above in the APPLICATION MATERIALS REQUIRED section.

2. Judging & Selection Process:

The Selection Process consists of two phases:

Phase 1: A pre-selection will be made by an international jury of at least seven members. All eligible submissions received by the entry deadline will be reviewed by an international jury of media professionals from a range of disciplines and countries, balanced in age, gender and experience. Members of the selection committee will be published on the Documentary Campus website once all members are confirmed.

Phase 2: The pre-selected Projects will then be interviewed by the Head of Documentary Campus Masterschool. The final selection of 15 Projects will then be notified.

Please note that as an organisation funded by Creative Europe Media we are obliged to store a copy of your documentation in the internal archive for at least ten years. If you would like to withdraw your Project from being considered by the selection committee, you can do so by writing to sa.petrus@documentary-campus.com before 31st December 2025. If we haven’t heard from you by then, we will share your material with the selection committee. All submitted documents are kept confidential and used only for selection purposes.

All Entrants will receive notification of the outcome of the judging process by the end of January 2026 before any public announcements are made.

3. Rights & Releases

All submitted documents are kept confidential. All documents, as well as all personal data, will be used strictly for the application process only – and if the application is selected, for the execution of the Documentary Campus Masterschool. They will be shared only with the selection committee as part of the selection process, as well as third parties involved in the execution of the Masterschool, e.g. tutors.
By submitting your Project to the Documentary Campus Masterschool you (“the Entrant”) confirm that all information in the application is true and accurate. Deliberate omission or misleading information will lead to exclusion from the Documentary Campus Masterschool. Where a Project is selected, the Entrant will actively participate in the 10-month Project development process including all four workshops and the additional webinars. Attendance at these (some in person, some online) is compulsory and the main requisite of the programme.

Certification of Entrant
By entering the application process, Entrants represent and warrant to Documentary Campus that they have the proprietary authority to further develop their submitted Projects as regards content and exploitation.

The Entrant, therefore, confirms at least one of the following options:

1. I am an author/director and hereby affirm that all copyright to my submitted treatment(s) lies solely with me.

2. I am a producer and affirm that I am entitled to proceed with the realisation and exploitation of the submitted Project(s). All written agreements with the concerned author(s) are in my hands and can be made available at any time.

3. I am a commissioning editor and affirm that I am authorized by my employer to provide editorial supervision of the submitted material(s) and to seek international co-financing partners for this (these). I will promptly produce a written authorization accordingly if my Project is selected for the Documentary Campus Masterschool.

In case none of the above apply, you are obliged to send a separate statement to a.petrus@documentary-campus.com on the status of rights in the Project(s) submitted before the submission deadline.

Submitting your Project to the Documentary Campus Masterschool implies full acceptance of the above terms and conditions.