International television co-productions come in two basic forms, and the difference between them shapes everything downstream: how a series is financed, where it can air, and who controls the story. An official co-production rests on a formal treaty between governments, which allows a series to qualify as a domestic production in every partner country and unlocks public funding, tax incentives, and broadcast quotas. An unofficial co-production is simply a deal between production companies in two or more countries, trading those national benefits for flexibility and shared risk. Understanding which model a series uses explains much of the business logic behind today's global television boom.
Understanding International TV Co-Production Models
At its core, a co-production is a joint venture between two or more production companies to produce an audiovisual project, including television series and animation, as David Zannoni explains in a Stage 32 primer on the format. The arrangement can be national, between companies from one country, or international, with producers from two or more countries teaming up. The international version is not new: Zannoni traces the format back to post-war Europe, where it became common among Italian, Spanish, and French companies in the 1950s through 1970s.
What has changed is scale. Writing in The Ankler in November 2024, Manori Ravindran described international co-productions as "increasingly the norm to make and sell TV to the global market," citing series such as The Day of the Jackal as emblematic of the trend. The appeal is captured in a phrase she highlights from producers: "50% of something is better than 100% of nothing." Partners combine resources, share risk, and open doors that one company alone may not be able to access.
Official (Treaty-Based) Co-Productions: Unlocking National Benefits
Official co-productions are enabled by treaties between countries, and those treaties can be bilateral, applying to two specific locations such as Canada and Brazil, or multilateral, covering a group of countries. Entertainment Partners' Joseph Chianese points to the Nordisk Film & TV Fond as an example of the multilateral form, serving as a treaty agreement among Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
The payoff is status. A treaty co-production qualifies as a national production in each partner nation, which grants access to local funding, tax incentives, and domestic broadcast quotas that would otherwise be closed to a foreign project. Screen Ireland, whose national agency actively promotes the country as a co-production partner, notes that Ireland has co-produced with almost every European territory as well as Canada, Australia, and South Africa, leveraging its competitive tax incentive and experienced talent base. These agreements are designed to serve economic, cultural, and diplomatic goals at the state level, not merely commercial ones.
