“During 2018 we – the staff and the board - at Nordisk Film & TV Fond went through a rewarding vision and strategy exercise.

The results and operative decisions are published in two short and condensed documents, (CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE) our vision and funding policy, but here are some reflections on the core of them.

Our position as a top financier of Nordic film and TV productions that can cross borders is clear and unquestioned. We are here to support, sustain and challenge the talents in creating diverse, local films and TV Dramas that sustain the Nordic brand and relevance of our content for Nordic and international audiences.

Improving distribution is quintessential. For applicants this means more demands on their guarantees, distribution and marketing plans and estimates – as specified in our Guidelines. We will also keep offering insights, by soon opening a call for producers and distributors of feature film projects to participate in the second round of our Nordic Distribution Boost initiative.

The main change in our Guidelines – effective January 1st - is in the recoupment regulation and break-even point of TV Drama series. From now on, our funding will come into aligned position with Nordic investments, after the production has recouped its own investment.

This is partly due to general changes in feature film and TV Drama financing and revenue models, and it also stems from our position as the last financier of projects that can travel. Third reflecting factor is that our funding for Drama series has constantly grown – in 2018 the split between fiction film and TV was close to 50/50. Our yearly level of recoupment from feature films has varied between NOK 4 to 5 Million. With an earlier recoupment position in TV drama, we believe this will create greater opportunities to reinvest our returns back into content, as we do with feature film.

Our global funding budget in 2019 is NOK 97,750,000. The allocation for fiction is 75,750,000, for documentaries NOK 10 million, for distribution NOK 9 million and for film cultural initiatives NOK 3 million.

Aside from our main area of funding, we have identified two fields where more knowledge is needed and therefore commissioned two new reports. One looks at circulation of documentaries at large, to better understand their effects, and the other explores what is behind the alarming signals around declining Nordic co-operation in Children and Youth content. Stay tuned for announcements and further debate on the results of these studies.  

On a final note, I am pleased to thank you, our readers! You are again much more in numbers, and in terms of your use of time, even more loyal that than last year! We take this sign of trust humbly, and try to keep up our promise of being the unbiased, respected news source for your use.

My best wishes for a wonderful film and TV year 2019!”

Petri Kemppinen