We are proud to launch IP Development for Creative Professionals, a brand-new residential workshop and the latest addition to our Essential Legal Framework programme. Taking place 17–19 September 2026 in Potsdam, the three-day intensive is designed for creators who are ready to move beyond the project-to-project cycle and start building intellectual property with lasting value.
The programme covers the full IP development journey: from defining your creative property and testing it as a Minimum Viable Product, to rights protection, audience development, cross-platform expansion, and international licensing. Sessions combine expert-led content with hands-on exercises and real industry case studies. Participants leave not just with new knowledge, but with a concrete IP development plan for their own project.
What makes this workshop distinctive is its cross-sector approach. Filmmakers, game developers, publishers, and licensing professionals will work side by side: because, as our Head of Studies Nuno Bernardo puts it, "each of these sectors has solved a problem the others are still working through." Game developers understand long-term audience engagement. Publishers know back-catalogue economics. Licensing professionals think in portfolios. Filmmakers bring narrative rigour and character depth. In three days together, those disciplines sharpen each other in ways that would otherwise take years to absorb.
Leading the programme is Nuno Bernardo, Emmy-nominated producer and Managing Director of beActive Entertainment, best known for Sofia's Diary: a cross-media property that began as a short-form online series in Portugal in 2003 and grew into a Sony Pictures Television format distributed across thirty countries. His work is a practical demonstration of what IP ownership, structured deliberately, can achieve.
The workshop takes place at the MAXX Hotel Sanssouci in Potsdam, with optional accommodation available on site. The participation fee is €590 (early bird) / €690, including meals.
Partial scholarships are available for Creative Europe – MEDIA eligible nationals and for media professionals based in Berlin, Brandenburg, and Mitteldeutschland, thanks to the support of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.
Scholarship applications close 16 August 2026.
Not sure if this workshop is right for you?
Join us online tomorrow
11 June 2026 | 16:00 CEST | online
Bring your questions and your project. Nuno Bernardo and the EPI team will walk you through the programme, explain what to expect from the three days in Potsdam, and help you assess whether this is the right next step for your work.
The session lasts approximately 30 minutes, is held via Zoom, and is free of charge upon registration.
Prefer to wait a little longer?
We will be back online on 18 August.
18 August 2026 | 15:00 CEST | online
A second info session for those who need more time to decide, or who simply could not make the first one. Same format: Nuno and the EPI team, thirty minutes, your questions answered.
The session is held via Zoom and is free of charge upon registration. Note that scholarship applications close on 16 August, so if you are considering applying, we recommend attending the June session first.
Register for the August session
Want to go deeper before signing up?
Cineuropa recently sat down with Nuno Bernardo for an in-depth conversation on why IP ownership has become a strategic imperative for European producers, how independent creators can compete without studio budgets, and what it really takes to build a world that outlasts a single project. It is a good read for anyone weighing whether this workshop speaks to where their career needs to go.
Read the interview on Cineuropa
