Slate development support

Preparing an application:

• Study the grant announcement and the support guide carefully.
• Log in to our application system with your Suomi.fi e-Identification.
• Fill in an application in the application system. The application consists of
  1) an application form
  2) the application’s appendices
  3) the applicant’s appendices
• Submit the application before the deadline.

Timeline for decision making

1. General

The definition of film

In this guide, film and film production refer to a feature-length fiction, animation or documentary film or a combination thereof as well as drama series.

The aim of the support

The aim of the Finnish Film Foundation is to promote diverse, professional film production in Finland and to secure the continuity and diversity of professional film production. The Foundation’s values include participation, pluralism, cultural diversity and artistic freedom.

The purpose of the support is to promote high-quality, diverse and original Finnish film production as well as the broad and extensive supply and distribution of films.

The purpose of slate development support is to bring continuity to development processes, promote long-term and systematic development work as well as support the production company in carrying out their business plan.

To whom?

Development support may be granted to a film production company registered in Finland (registered company: limited liability company, general partnership, limited partnership, co-operative) with the professional and financial prerequisites to produce films and to manage their commercial rights in Finland.

For example, a private trader, company name (toiminimi) or a registered association are not registered companies in Finland.

Professional prerequisites demand that the production company can handle the various stages of producing the film for which it has applied development support, as well as the purposeful distribution and other uses of the film.

From the perspective of financing, it is essential that the production company has the required liquidity and solvency to produce the film and overcome surprising changes in costs that may happen during production.

Development and production support cannot be granted to a government department, municipality, federation of municipalities or parish, state-owned or other comparable communities or departments. Moreover, development and production support cannot be granted to a television or streaming company, or to a film production company with one or more shareholders who hold at least 15% in shares and act in television production or streaming services.

For what purpose and how much?

A slate development support application may include 3–5 separate film projects based on an artistic plan. One of the projects must be a feature fiction film project. The other projects may be feature fiction film projects, feature documentary projects or serial drama projects.

The development plan may span a maximum of 24 months.

The support applied for may be less than the maximum amount, and the development plan schedule may be shorter than 24 months, if that functions for the production company and film projects.

The support may be directed at writing and developing a script, production plans, cinematography and stage design plans and other operations necessitated by the budget and financing arrangements.

The amount of support

The maximum amount of development support is €150,000.

Previous support decisions may be viewed from the Foundation’s support decisions page.

Development support can be applied and it may be granted in several instalments in order to develop and progress a film project. Development support granted for a film project by the Foundation are counted as production support and therefore it affects the maximum amount of production support.

How and when to apply?

Development support is applied for by submitting an application in the application system before the deadline given in the grant announcement.

The application consist of:

1) an application form
2) the application’s appendices
3) the applicant’s appendices

Prior to submitting an application, you must carefully read the relevant grant announcement and support guide. You should begin preparing the application well ahead of the deadline.

The applicant is responsible for submitting the application within the deadline. Applications submitted after the deadline are transferred to the next application period.

The application deadline is at 16:00 on the last day of the application period.

A good application and smooth communication

Finnish Film Foundation processes approximately 250–300 applications each application period and the production department makes roughly 1,300 decisions each year. It is essential for the evaluation and comparison of the applications that the application is clear and carefully prepared.

In a good application, the topic, script, and work and financial plans are presented consistently and demonstrate that the applicant has control over the film project from scriptwriting to distribution.

Be clear and relate the essentials in your application. Consider the operating environment and realities of film productions, including how the film’s funding and distribution are related to the film’s theme, topic and genre. Consider also how the support corresponds with its goals and what is special about this particular film.

Application and the applicant’s information

The Foundation’s application system has two windows:

1) Applications, where all the information and appendices related to the application are submitted

2) Applicant’s appendices (“Hakijan liitteet”), where all current production company documents are submitted

Fluent processing and communication

When uploading appendices, make sure that

• the forms are up-to-date and include the date.
• the appendices show the current crew.
• the agreements are signed by all relevant parties.
• the length of the film is uniform in all documentation.
• the figures are uniform in all documentation, including the cost estimate, financing plan and the development and production plan drafted according to the Foundation’s template.
• you fill in the development and production plan according to the Foundation’s template as completely as possible and refrain from referring to appendices.
• you use the most recent version of the Foundation’s forms.

What requirements must the applicant meet?

A positive support decision requires that

• the applicant has complied with possible previous support agreements, conditions and delivered all overdue final reports on previous support.
• when applying for development support for a project that has received development support before, the final report for the previous support must be delivered into the application system by the final application date. A film project cannot be awarded development support before the final report of the previous support for the same project has been approved by the Foundation.
• the development phase funding is essentially secured. The applicant must show with binding confirmations or agreements that the plan related to the development support is feasible. Finnish Film Foundation evaluates the adequacy of the funding secured at the moment of application.

The Foundation may request further information if it deems it necessary for the decision-making process.

Support cannot be granted if the application is insufficient and the required information is not uploaded into the application system despite requests to do so.

How are the applications evaluated?

Support may be granted to develop a cultural product that

1. forms an artistic whole,
2. has content that is based on cultural values originating in cultural identity,
3. includes a significant contribution by significant creators and artists, and where the share of wages and salaries of the overall production costs is significant.

Support is discretionary. The evaluation and comparison of the applications is based on an overall assessment that considers the purpose of the funds, the grounds mentioned in the grant announcement and available funds in the budget.

When required, documentary film commissioners will also participate in the evaluation of the projects.

The film project’s content, artistry and production are evaluated as a whole, and the evaluation takes into consideration the applicant’s artistic and professional qualifications that contribute to the probability of completing the project.

Other support previously granted by the Foundation to the applicant is also taken into account.

In evaluation for slate development support, special attention will be paid to the following:

• Quality and credibility of the production company’s business plan
• The production company’s artistic and financial ability to carry out and complete several film projects
• Development support received by the production company within the past five years in relation to projects implemented
• Audience targets reached as well as international distribution and visibility of films produced by the production company within the past five years
• Artistic quality of project-specific plans
• Quality of project-specific development plans
• Realism and efficiency of project-specific budgets in relation to the development plan
• Amount and quality of other financing included in the development plan (self-financing and/or financing outside the production company)

How are the decisions made?

The Board of the Finnish Film Foundation decides on development and production support based on the presentation of a Film Commissioner.

The Foundation aims to make decisions within 8–10 weeks after the application deadline.

All applicants receive a written decision that contains the conditions of the support and a claim for corrections with instructions. You will get an email when the decision is made to the email address given in the Applicant’s information.

The decision is based on the act of government funding for the advancement of cinema (1174/2018), the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers (688/2001) and the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003).

Finnish Film Foundation will sign a support agreement with the film’s production company before paying the support.

2. Application for slate development support

Fill out an application in the application system consisting of the following:

1. Application form
2. Application’s appendices
3. Applicant’s appendices

The Foundation will appoint a film commissioner to the application. The applicant can see the name of the film commissioner in the application about a week after the deadline. If the project has previous support from the Foundation, the same film commissioner will be appointed to the new application.

If the application needs to be supplemented during the processing time, the film commissioner or other person handling the application will be in contact.

We do not comment on the possible decision during processing time.

Obligatory appendices of the slate development support application

You can submit the application once all the obligatory appendices are uploaded to the application system.

You may download the Foundation’s templates for development plan, budgeting and reporting forms on the Foundation’s website.

3. Decision

After the decision made by the Finnish Film Foundation’s Board has been processed, you will receive a message to the email address you have given in the Applicant’s information.

The decision can be read in the application’s Decision (“Päätös”) view.

The film commissioner can elaborate on the grounds for the decision verbally if the applicant so wishes. The applicant can set a date for this with the film commissioner.

After the decision has been made, the Application’s appendices folder is closed.

After a favourable decision you will get instructions on how to proceed to an agreement to the email address given in the Application’s information.

Upload the support agreement appendices to the Agreement appendices (“Sopimusliitteet”) folder.

Upload the appendices pertaining to the oversight and reporting to the Reporting and final report (“Raportointi ja loppuselvitys”) folder.

4. Slate development support agreement

An agreement between the Foundation and the recipient on the development support must be signed within three (3) months of the favourable decision or the decision will expire.

Make sure that the budget and financing plan attached to the agreement correspond to the development support decision.

Upload the agreement appendices to the application system in the corresponding folder (“Sopimusliitteet”). The agreement is signed online in the Visma Sign service.

The recipient is responsible for adding and updating all support decision appendices before they request a date to draft the support agreement with the person responsible for development support agreements.

The support agreement confirms the budget of the current development stage, the funding strategy and other agreements required by the Foundation’s support agreement.

Deviation from the verified budget and where the support is used are possible only with the Foundation’s written agreement. The recipient is responsible for executing the project in the manner and within the schedule agreed to in the agreement.

5. Payment of the support

Development support is paid to the recipient’s Finnish bank account in two instalments:

• the first instalment (80%) after signing the support agreement
• the second instalment (20%) after the final report has been approved by the Foundation

7. Oversight

Finnish Film Foundation oversees and supervises how the support is used. The Foundation has the right to use audits to oversee payments and how the support is used. The Foundation may also postpone payments during audits.

Organising project oversight

The recipient must maintain their accounts according to the Accounting Act and the Accounting Ordinance and follow sound accounting procedures. The recipient must organise the project’s audit trail – the link between the recipient’s financial statement and the project’s statement of charges – in a way that it can be reliably, completely and transparently verified by a third party.

The Foundation always reserves the right to fully audit the recipient’s accounting and management.

The recipient is obligated to provide their accountant and auditor the film’s support agreement and all appendices. If the recipient neglects these duties, the Foundation has the right to deliver the documents to the accountant and auditor named in the support agreement.

The recipient must observe and notify their accountant and their auditor of the Foundation’s instructions and guidelines (2021, pdf in Finnish) concerning the film industry’s accounting, financial statement and auditing principles.

Disclosure requirement

The recipient must provide the Finnish Film Foundation the correct and sufficient information to enable oversight of the support decision’s conditions.

The recipient must inform the Foundation of all changes that influence the way the support is used without delay. Changes that influence the use of the support include changes in the project’s quality, breadth and funding. The Foundation also always has the right to receive information about the project’s current status and follow the project’s progress.

A written report of changes must be emailed to the film commissioner who presented the support to the Foundation’s Board. The basis for the report is the support agreement between the recipient and the Foundation which can only be changed with written permission from the Foundation.

8. Final report

The final report must be delivered to the Foundation no later than one year from the date the support agreement was signed.

If one of the films on the slate receives production support, the recipient prepares a separate final report for the film project according to the final report instructions for individual development support.

Using the company’s own equipment and internal transfers

The use of the company’s own equipment and other transfers must be accounted for and itemised in the final report.

If these have changed in relation to budgeted costs, the recipient must report them adequately.

Auditing procedure

Upload the final report to the application system in the Reporting and final report (“Raportointi ja loppuselvitys”) folder.

Information on the submitted final report is emailed to Accounting Specialist Pirjo Harmainen: pirjo.harmainen@ses.fi

The approval process for the final report of the development support has two stages. First the film commissioner who presented the support reviews the final report and approves of the work completed with the development support. During the second stage, an accounting specialist audits the finances of the final report.

An automatic message indicating that the final report is missing is only removed when the final report has been approved by the Foundation and the final instalment of the support has been paid.

In the application’s Payment information (“Maksutiedot”) window you can see when each instalment has been paid.

Finnish Film Foundation may request further information if it deems it necessary for the approval of the final report. The Foundation has the right to perform audits on the recipient’s finances and and activities based on the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers, section 16.

The recipient must ascertain that the Foundation has the necessary prerequisites to perform the audit.

Finnish Film Foundation approves the project’s final costs and funding based on the final report.

If the project’s support exceeds the actualised costs, the Foundation deducts the sum from the unpaid instalment. If the sum is larger than the unpaid instalment, the recipient must immediately return the exceeding portion of the support to the Foundation.

9. Halting payment and repayment

If the recipient does not repay Finnish Film Foundation according to the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers, section 20, repayment of the support or a portion of it will proceed according to section 9 and section 10 of the act of government transfers to promote film culture.

Section 9 Halting payments

The Arts Promotion Center Finland is responsible for halting payments. Finnish Film Foundation must immediately propose to the Arts Promotion Center Finland that the government transfer be halted if the Foundation has discovered information that warrants the halting of the payments. The Arts Promotion Center decides on the halting of payments and the continuation or halting of government transfers based on the Foundation’s suggestion.

The decision of the halting of payments must be made immediately and, for special reasons, during at least two calendar years after the Finnish Film Foundation’s suggestion. Finnish Film Foundation must include sufficient and essential information to make a decision to halt payments. The Arts Promotion Center Finland also has the right to receive the necessary information from the Finnish Film Foundation to halt payments without regard to confidentiality agreements.

Section 10 Repayment

The Arts Promotion Center Finland is responsible for halting payments. Finnish Film Foundation must immediately inform the Arts Promotion Center Finland of facts that would or should warrant government transfer repayments. The Arts Promotion Center Finland makes the repayment decision.

The decision of repayments must be made immediately and, for special reasons, during at least two calendar years after the Finnish Film Foundation’s suggestion. Finnish Film Foundation must include sufficient and essential information to make a decision of repayments. The Arts Promotion Center Finland also has the right to receive the necessary information from the Finnish Film Foundation for repayments without regard to confidentiality agreements.