PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION SUPPORT

Transcription

1 APPLICATION GUIDELINES: Production support PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION SUPPORT All Film Foundation support applications are submitted through an online application system: The Film Foundation will assess the projects referred to in the application as a whole in terms of content, artistic expression and production planning. This assessment will take into account the applicant s artistic, professional and financial qualifications for carrying out the project. Development and production support applications are processed on an ongoing basis. There is no deadline for applications. Development support and production support applications are processed in two stages: the application stage and the decision stage. THE APPLICATION STAGE: Applications are processed in order of arrival. Film Commissioners will respond to an application within about 4 8 weeks of receiving them. A Film Commissioner may wish to discuss the content and financing of the film with the applicant, request further amendments to the application annexes where necessary, or otherwise contact the applicant. THE DECISION STAGE: The decision stage begins after the application has been prepared at the application stage and the Film Commissioner has determined at which support meeting the proposal will be presented for decision. At the decision stage the production controller reviews the financial aspects of the application and the Film Commissioner prepares the proposal for decision. The Film Commissioner will only present the proposal for decision after obtaining adequate information for doing so, and when all of the application annexes have been submitted to the online application system in accordance with the Support Guidelines and the Application Guidelines 35 days before the support meeting that receives and decides on the proposal. The following APPLICATION ANNEXES must be updated 35 days before the support meeting that receives and decides on the support proposal: The application annexes specified in point (development support) or point (production support) of the Application Guidelines Elokuvatiedot (Film details) form in the online application system documents pertaining to a registered corporation in accordance with point (development support) or point (production support) of the Application Guidelines the final report on any previous development support when seeking new development support for the same film

2 SUPPORT MEETINGS A timetable for the Foundation s support decision meeting can be found at LETTER OF COMMITMENT To secure a letter of commitment, the applicant must submit a production support application and the following application annexes to the Foundation s online application system. The Film Commissioner and the applicant will then negotiate on the prospects for securing the letter of commitment under the terms and conditions specified at point 1.3 of the Support guidelines. The Film Commissioner may request additional details considered necessary from an applicant seeking a letter of commitment. Annexes to a letter of commitment: a film script a financing plan a production plan in a format specified by FFF PRODUCTION SUPPORT Granting of support INTERNATIONAL SALES STATISTICS: The support recipient is required to submit an international sales report on a designated form of the previous year s sales by March 31 st. The report includes annual sales in euros for theatrical, television and VoD distribution. The reporting requirement concerns feature-length fiction and documentary films as well as television series with episodes longer than 22 minutes. The reporting form is available on the Foundation s website: The international sales must be reported to the Foundation for five years following the year of the film s completion. The Foundation will only publish aggregate data on international sales in a way that prevents specific data on the sales of an individual production or company from being dissected. ANNEXES TO THE APPLICATION Support applicants must include the following annexes in a support application to the Foundation: a film script a budget itemised in detail a financing plan

3 a production plan in a format specified by FFF a marketing and distribution plan in a format specified by FFF the film details form completed via the online application system In addition to the foregoing, an applicant seeking support for a Finnish minority interest in an international co-production must also submit the following support application annexes to the Foundation: a deal memorandum or co-production agreement between all of the co-producers together with the annexes thereto a budget itemised in detail covering the share of the Finnish co-producer a detailed budget for the entire production a financing plan covering the share of the Finnish co-producer a financing plan for the entire production a production plan covering the share of the Finnish co-producer Please note! The type of application annex must be specified correctly in the Liitteen tyyppi (Attachment type) field to stop the system sending an automated missing annex message. It is a condition of a support decision that the support applicant has submitted the following documents to the Foundation concerning its operations as a registered corporation: the most recent financial statements approved by an auditor, comprising of a balance sheet book and the auditor s report a current extract from the Trade Register no more than 6 months old a certificate of outstanding tax liability or a tax account statement no more than 3 months old a certificate of payment of pension contributions no more than 3 months old an up-to-date list of shareholders (chapter 3 of the Limited Liability Companies Act i ) (the list of shareholders is submitted only once and updated in the event of changes in ownership of the company) Duty to audit Financial statements: An English translation of the Auditing Act ii is available at: The Auditing Act also stipulates the conditions under which a registered corporation is not required to appoint an auditor. Final report of support: The account of costs provided in the final report of support must nevertheless always be authenticated by a Registered Auditor when the Foundation s support is EUR 20,000 or more. Please note! The production company documents are submitted in the Applicant s attachments section.

4 FURTHER GUIDELINES FOR APPLICATION ANNEXES: A budget plan itemised in detail The budget must include the direct production costs of the film up to the first screening copy. The budget must include the name of the employee or person performing the work, insofar as this is known at the application stage. Use of the production company s in-house equipment must be included in the budget. Point Final report of the Application Guidelines provides a list of promotional materials required by the Foundation s information and international promotion departments, the costs of which are to be included in the budget. The financing plan and binding confirmations or agreements on other financing The financing plan must be submitted as a separate file appended to the application by selecting Rahoitussuunnitelma (Financing plan) as the annex type. The financing plan must include the stage of funding in each financing category at the time of applying. The plan should be amended when additional financing is confirmed or secured. Additional financing must be secured before the support decision with binding contracts and agreements to the extent that the Foundation can be assured that completion of the film with the production support is financially feasible. If support is sought for a Finnish interest in an international co-production, then all of the financing for the film must be verified at the time of the decision through binding confirmations or agreements to the extent described above. A marketing and distribution plan in a format determined by the Foundation The marketing and distribution plan will be completed for all film genres. Forms for cinema distribution, short films and documentaries, and television series are available online at The Markkinointi- ja levityssuunnitelma (Marketing and distribution plan) annex type must be selected when submitting the form. Film details form for completion via the electronic application system The application must include details and a short description of the film. This information must be supplied when the applicant has received the Elokuvatiedot ovat täytettävissä (Please provide film details) automated message. The film details must be provided to the extent that this information is available at the time of completing the form. The film details may be updated and amended as production progresses.

5 The Foundation will publish favourable support decisions on its website and in media releases within one week of the support meeting, based on the information supplied by the applicant. For the purposes of international promotion the Englanninkielinen synopsis (Synopsis in English) section of the film deatails form must also be completed. A deal memorandum or co-production agreement between all of the co-producers together with the annexes thereto When support is sought for a Finnish minority interest in an international co-production, the Finnish production company must manage the commercial rights to the film in Finland, and a written agreement concluded with the principal producer to this effect must be submitted. The co-production agreement or deal memo submitted as an application annex must include all of the appendices referred to in the said agreement. A budget itemised in detail covering the share of the Finnish co-producer Notwithstanding the conditions specified in the Foundation s Support Guidelines concerning contingency appropriations and the percentage of administration costs, an applicant may present these figures congruently in accordance with the practice of the principal producer. Special application annex requirements for 50/50 production support applications The financing plan accounts of confirmed production financing amounting to not less than 50 % per cent shall be appended to the application (support decisions or financial commitments from other financiers that are tied to the total budget specified in the application) together with additional accounts of any other sources of finance The production plan The production timetable must specify a starting date for production within about nine months of the closing date for applications. If the production commences at a later date, then the grounds for this must be appended to the application A marketing and distribution plan in a format determined by the Foundation Special attention should be paid to detailing the marketing and distribution plan and the cinema admissions target as well as the script and the production crew, who should be signed on to the project with a letter of commitment if possible Further details of 50/50 production support applications are available online at: Production support agreement Instructions on how to proceed from a support decision to a support agreement will be sent with the notice of a favourable decision. The support recipient must submit all of the agreement annexes as application annexes before requesting an appointment to conclude the support agreement.

6 ANNEXES TO THE SUPPORT AGREEMENT It shall be a condition of signing a production support agreement that the following documents have been submitted to the Foundation: a film script a budget plan itemised in detail and confirmed by the Foundation a financing plan confirmed by the Foundation a production plan in a format specified by FFF a project cashflow plan agreements or binding confirmations concerning other financing, indicating that the other funds referred to in the financing plan will be secured in full, and in the manner required under the cashflow plan an account of the production company s self-financing share in accordance with point of the Support Guidelines appropriate agreements with copyright holders other agreements required for implementing the project and granting the support a certificate of insurance, by no later than the time of the second payment tranche the producer s announcement that filming has begun, by no later than the time of the second payment tranche If support is sought for a Finnish minority interest in an international co-production, then the Foundation and the support recipient will conclude an agreement on the share of the Finnish co-producer. The following agreement annexes must be submitted in addition to the foregoing annexes: a co-production agreement between all of the co-producers together with the annexes thereto a detailed budget for the entire production, itemised by country Please note! The agreement annexes will be uploaded in the Annexes to the application section, designated by Annex type. It is a condition of concluding a support agreement that the recipient has submitted the documents concerning its operations as a registered corporation listed in point of the Application Guidelines. Please note! The production company documents are uploaded in the Applicant s attachments section. FURTHER GUIDELINES FOR AGREEMENT ANNEXES: The project cashflow plan The cashflow plan (cash flow statement) indicates to the production company and financier on a monthly basis that future production funding will suffice to cover the monthly costs incurred in production. If the closing balance is negative at the end of any month, then the support recipient must provide a special account showing how the obligations of deficit months will be cleared.

7 When preparing a cashflow plan attention must be paid to the fact that if the fifth tranche of Foundation financing amounting to 10 percent of the support exceeds EUR 20,000, then the difference will be paid in the third tranche. Agreements or binding confirmations concerning other financing, indicating that the other funds referred to in the financing plan will be secured in full, and in the manner required under the cashflow plan If no final written financing agreements have been concluded with other financiers at the time of concluding the agreement The Foundation will accept current binding confirmations for euro-denominated sums. The support recipient must append the final agreements as annexes to its application when they are concluded. Entries in the film budget and financing plan based on deliveries of goods or services must be verified with current euro-denominated binding commitments or written agreements. Appropriate agreements with copyright holders Agreements concluded between the production company and copyright holders concerning the original work, the film script and direction must be appended to the agreement. The following points must be specified in an agreement with the proprietor of copyright in the original work: - the right to prepare a film script from the work - the right to make a film based on the script - the commercial rights to the film The following points must be specified in an agreement with the film scriptwriter: - the right to make a film based on the script - the commercial rights to the film The following points must be specified in an agreement with the film director: - assignment to the production company of the director s rights to the film - the commercial rights to the film The other agreements required for implementing the project and granting the support The support recipient must have agreements concerning all of the copyrights that are required for completing the film AND FOR ITS COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION, together with ANY OTHER intellectual property rights. The support recipient will be liable for the claims of third parties concerning these rights. The Foundation may request that documentation of these intellectual property rights is appended to its agreement as necessary Payment of support FURTHER GUIDELINES ON PAYMENT TRANCHES: The second tranche: when filming begins

8 It shall be a condition of payment that the following annexes have been submitted to the online application system: a written notice from the producer indicating that filming has begun a certificate of film production insurance when the total budget is EUR 500,000 or more If filming takes place in two or more periods, then the Foundation may divide the second tranche into more than one instalment. This does not include second-unit filming. The third tranche: the interim report The support recipient is required to furnish the Foundation with an interim report of production progress drawn up in a format determined by the Foundation after the main or last filming period ends. The interim report must itemise the production costs and realisation of funding in relation to budgeted figures, and provide an estimate of future costs and financing. The interim report must include a written account of progress in production compared to the plans made, the remaining work stages and timetable, and any significant deviations from the budget. The Foundation may ask the support recipient for further details that it deems necessary for approving the interim report. The interim report must be confirmed by the accountant. A notice of uploading a interim report as an application annex to the online application system should be ed to pirjo.koskelo@ses.fi Regulatory control Applications for extending the production support period of usage must be submitted in writing. A written explanation for the extension shall be ed to the production controller/coordinator and submitted to the online application system as an application annex of the type Loppuselvityksen lisäaikapyyntö (Request for additional reporting time). Pirjo Koskelo pirjo.koskelo@ses.fi - Slate development support - Production support for feature films - Marketing and distribution support Susanna Haarla susanna.haarla@ses.fi - Production support for documentary films, short films, and drama series Arrangement of support recipient s project monitoring Instructions and recommendation from the Foundation concerning the principles governing production company bookkeeping, project accounting and project auditing may be found under Ohjeet ja lomakkeet (Instructions and forms) on the Foundation website:

9 Final report If the support agreement concluded between the Foundation and the recipient was based on binding conformations the support recipient must submit the final agreements with other financiers as annexes to the application when submitting the final report. A notice of uploading a final report as an application annex to the online application system should be ed to pirjo.koskelo@ses.fi All realised production costs presented in the final report must have been paid. If a Finnish production company is the main producer of an international co-production, then the final report must present and submit the final audited reports of all of the foreign co-producers. Please note! The Loppuselvitys puuttuu (Final report missing) automatic message will only disappear when the Foundation has approved the final report and the final tranche of the production support has been paid. The Finnish Film Foundation s role in funding increasingly international domestic feature fiction film productions Dividing international co-productions into majority and minority productions has become an insufficient definition in some cases when defining the Finnish Film Foundation s role in the production s financing. These are usually projects with a Finnish inception and/or Finnish artists that are not specifically about Finland and don t necessarily feature Finnish characters. The budgets of these productions vary greatly to the extent that they include budgets from both the lowest and highest categories. The Finnish Film Foundation s task is to support Finnish films and this new type of international production becoming more common has made it necessary for The Finnish Film Foundation s Production Department to outline the principles that determine the amount of production support a feature film is eligible for or if it is eligible for national film support at all. The Finnish Film Foundation reviews feature film projects seeking funding with the following principles: Production Support from the Finnish Film Foundation remaining in the country The financial impact of the Production Support; is the support spent entirely or partly in Finland and on Finnish professionals or does the support generate income in Finland

10 The producer can verify this with a budget, a production plan and a financing plan They are accepted by the Foundation s Production Controller and the Film Commissioner In addition at least one of these conditions must be met: The film has significant audience potential in Finland The producer can verify the film s audience potential with pre-financing from a domestic distribution company and/or with investments from the private sector. Gratuitous estimates from the distributor of producer are not taken into account The film s audience potential in the domestic market is determined by the Film Commissioner The film has potentially significant cultural value internationally The film has potential significance in the landscape of international cinema The cultural significance is determined by the Film Commissioner The film has significant audience potential internationally The producer can verify the film s audience potential with pre-sales or by other means. Gratuitous estimates from the producer or distributors are not sufficient proof of the film s international audience potential The film s international audience potential is determined by the Film Commissioner A film can fulfill one or more of the above conditions. The amount of production support given by The Foundation can be larger when several conditions are fulfilled than when only one of them is met. The amount of production support given is determined by the Film Commissioner and it may be considerably smaller than the average support for a domestic feature film. MATERIALS FOR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION: The support recipient is required to furnish the international promotion department of the Film Foundation with the following publicity materials before the final support tranche is paid. The materials will be submitted by , depending on the type of film: Feature length films: International promotion coordinator / feature films (forename.surname@ses.fi). Short and documentary films: International promotion coordinator / short and documentary films (forename.surname@ses.fi).

11 principal details of the film, the title in Finnish and English, the duration, the aspect ratio, the shooting and presentation format, the sound format. Please note: International promotion information forms are available for this purpose on the Foundation website: for feature-length films ( kulttuuriviennin infolomake pitkät näytelmäelokuvat ) (cultural export information form for feature-length films) and for short films and documentaries ( kulttuuriviennin infolomake lyhyt- ja dokumenttielokuvat ) (cultural export information form for short films and documentaries). 15 copies of the DVD with English subtitles the dialogue list in English the dialogue list in Finnish (feature films) a film synopsis in English a director s comment on the film and the director s biography/filmography in English the principal film credits in English 3 stills from the film and 1 portrait picture of the director (preferably 1 MB jpg images) a link to the online screener for the film (Vimeo etc.) or an mp4/m4v file including English subtitles the contact details for the person responsible for the film at the production company and the one responsible for festivals (and details of any sales company) There is no requirement to submit the foregoing materials for television series or minority co-productions. The international promotion department of the Film Foundation does not require DVD copies of minority co-production films, as the Foundation does not handle their festival distribution. The department would nevertheless appreciate sample copies or an online link enabling Foundation staff to view the film if necessary. INTERNATIONAL SALES STATISTICS: The support recipient must supply the Finnish Film Foundation with the film s international sales figures from the previous year by no later than 31 March. The figures should include annual sales (in euros) from cinema, television and VoD distribution. Sales figures should be provided for feature length fiction and documentary films as well as television drama series (with episodes exceeding 22 minutes). The international sales figures should reported for at least five years following the films release. The Finnish Film Foundation will publish international sales data only as aggregate or average numbers so that individual sales figures for a particular production are not evident. i Osakeyhtiölaki, no. 624 of 2006

12 ii Tilintarkastuslaki, no. 459 of 2007