Documentary financing in Finland

Updated by Niina Tynkkynen Yle teema sari volanen - yle for eurodoc 2006

broadcasters

YLE Yleisradio Oy Finnish Broadcasting Company www.yle.fi

YLE is Finlands national public service broadcasting company. YLE operates seven national television channels.

YLE TV1 The news, current affairs and factual journalism channel, also offering drama, cultural, educational and documentary programmes as well as satirical

entertainment. Quality cinema and British production feature acquisition programming. YLE TV1 is also broadcast in digital format.

heavily

in

Broadcast hours per year (2005) Broadcast hours per day Total costs EUR million Average price of broadcast hour Daily reach Daily viewing

5,266 14.4 64.8 12,300 51 % 30 min

YLE TV2 The channel for sport and children and teenagers programmes, also offering drama and entertainment. The focus in current affairs and factual programmes is on the citizens viewpoint, Finland and regional content. Comedies and human relationship series and serials are the focus in acquisition programming. YLE TV2 is also broadcast in digital format.

Broadcast hours per year (2005) Broadcast hours per day Total costs EUR million Average price of broadcast hour Daily reach Daily viewing

4,419 12.1 76.1 17,200 48 % 30 min

YLE Teema The digital channel for education, science and cultural programmes. Programming comprises recordings of performing art, classical music, art and history documentaries, films and theme broadcasts.

Broadcast hours per year (2005) Broadcast hours per day Total costs EUR million Average price of broadcast hour

3,176 8.7 10.2 3,200

YLE FST The digital Swedish-language full service channel broadcasting news, factual and children's programmes, culture, sport and entertainment. Acquisition programming comprises mainly Nordic and European films, series and serials, and co-productions. The programming is also shown on the analogue YLE TV1 and TV2 and is subtitled in Finnish.

Broadcast hours per year (2005) Broadcast hours per day Total costs EUR million Average price of broadcast hour

2,289 6.3 18.9 8,200

YLE24

The digital channel for news, current affairs and events reporting and live sports broadcasts that brings real-time and 24-hour news output not only to television but also to, e.g., the internet and mobile receivers. Broadcast hours per year (2005) Broadcast hours per day Total costs EUR million Average price of broadcast hour 4,078 11.2 23.3 8,100

YLE Teletext News, sport and programme information round the clock on both analogue and digital television - in Finnish and Swedish. In addition, theme pages on the weather, traffic, work, leisure and subtitling of programmes for the hard-ofhearing.

TV Finland The digital satellite channel showing a selection of YLE and MTV3 programmes for expatriate Finns in Europe.

Total hours of analogue and digital television channels:

YLE TV broadcast hours per year (2005) New domestic broadcast hours Level of domestic content Level of European content Share of independent programme producers (new domestic programmes, excl. news and sport) YLE Co-Productions

20,174 5,320 50 % 89 % 17 %

Commissioning editors:

Erkki Astala, Head of Co-Productions Iikka Vehkalahti, producer / Documentaries Sari Volanen, producer / New Cinema

YLE Co-Productions is a new unit in operation since the beginning of 2004 dealing with co-productions for, in principle, all four Finnish-language channels. In practice, YLE Co-Productions works mainly for the two general channels, TV1 and TV2.

The main focus is in Finnish independent producers and projects with strong basic financing from domestic funds (AVEK or FFF). A growing number of Finnish producers co-producing with YLE are looking for co-production financing also internationally especially on the European market, and YLE can participate in international projects with a Finnish co-producer as well.

But YLE is also very active on the international field especially when it comes to creative documentary, and pre-buys and co-productions are made directly with foreign producers, too. For international pre-buys or co-productions the contribution is generally between 5 000 and 10 000 .

YLE Co-Productions is looking for creative documentaries with strong personal approach, cinematic character and human substance. TV1 and TV2 have several slots for documentaries, creative documentaries programmed mostly on TV1 in Sunday Documentary, Culture Documentary and New Cinema slots and on TV2 in Documentaries slot.

TV1 New Cinema Tuesday at 23.15 is a slot with an open end and usually shows a short start film and a main film. Its profile is something off the main stream; films made by young directors or subjects dealt in a new way. The main films can be documentaries, short films,

long features films or experimental films. Both domestic and international films (acquisitions, pre-buys or co-productions) are programmed.

TV2 Documentaries Tuesday at 22.00 is a weekly slot for creative documentaries with strong content and human consciousness. The slot has an open end which means that also grand format films are suitable for programming. TV2 Documentaries pre-buys, co-produces and makes acquisitions. Documentary project has a flexible approach for international co-production arrangements and can help finding suitable domestic partners. www.yle.fi/d-projekti

YLE Teema Commissioning editors: Ritva Leino/Culture, Tapio Kujala/Science & Education

YLE Teema is a digital channel dedicated to culture, science and education. The palette includes documentaries, films, history, the performing arts, literature, the visual arts, music and dance. Teema has one open-end slot for creative documentaries and one-hour slot for culture and science documentaries and for documentaries on globalization and the 3rd world affairs. Teema prebuys or coproduces directly with a commitment between 2 000 and 10 000 . Commissioning editors prefer to participate in developing and finalizing the projects. Concerning cultural and art related documentaries YLE Teema is an interesting option. www.yle.fi/teema http://www.yle.fi/teema/english/

FST Commissioning editor: Jenny Westergrd (jenny.westergard@yle.fi)

FST is a Swedish speaking channel concentrating on issues which are mainly connected with Swedish-speaking minority. But a growing interest is directed toward issues on immigration and cultural multi-nationality in Finland and in Europe. FST operates independently with an own programming policy, own independent co-production and acquisitions department and has become a very interesting partner in creative documentaries. The commitment for international coproductions is between 5 000 10 000 . The agreement can be done directly with a foreign production company. www.yle.fi/FST

Buyers for documentaries slots:

TV1 Sunday documentary (johan.fornas@yle.fi) at 21.15 Johan Frns

themes general and various, 60 minute slot

History documentary Wednesday at 19:00 60 minute slot (nina.tuominen@yle.fi) Nina Tuominen

Prisma Monday at 19.00 science, 60 minute slot

Nina Tuominen

Nature Saturday (johanna.salmela@yle.fi) 45-55 minute slot

at

18.35

Johanna

Salmela

Nature Wednesday at 18.35 30 minute slot

Johanna Salmela

Foreign line Wednesday at 22.00 current affairs, 55 minute slot

Ingegerd Pesonen (ingegerd.pesonen@yle.fi)

TV2 Documentary Project Tuesday at 22:00 60 90 minutes Iikka Vehkalahti (iikka.vehkalahti@yle.fi)

YLE Teema Culture documentary Wednesday at 20:00 60 minute slot Johan Frns

Science documentary Thursday at 21:00 60 minute slot

Nina Tuominen

Ateljee Music, performing arts, culture 60-90 minutes

Outi Saarikoski (outi.saarikoski@yle.fi)

Third Dimension Third world issues widely 60 minute slot

Tarja Forsman (tarja.forsman@yle.fi)

Commercial channels

MTV3 and NELONEN (TV4) These channels dont play any important role today when it comes to creative documentaries. Possible acquisitions through different markets.

INSTITUTIONAL FUNDING

THE FINNISH FILM FOUNDATION FFF

Production chief:

Petri Kemppinen (feature length documentaries only) email : petri.kemppinen@ses.fi

Production Consultant:

Miia Haavisto (documentaries, shorts, animations) email : miia.haavisto@ses.fi

Finnish Film Foundation is state-financed organization whose aim is to promote Finnish film culture.

FFF participates in financing 10 -12 documentaries a year. Individual production support ranges from 30 000 to 200 000 . It can also participate in international co-productions but domestic partner is obligatory and Finnish creative contribution will help. Most co-productions are initiated in Finland but a growing number of foreign companies are looking for a Finnish partner because of international networking.

www.ses.fi

AVEK THE PROMOTION CENTER FOR AUDIOVISUAL CULTURE

Production consultant: Ulla Simonen

The aim of AVEK is to promote cinema, video and television culture. It is responsible for the management of funds which arise from authors copyright entitlements. The main emphasis of AVEKs production support is on the classical cinematic categories: documentary film, short film, animated film and short fiction. The total amount of production support is c. 1, 3 M . The decisions are made by the consultant.

In 2004-2005 AVEK participated in the production of 25 documentaries, 7 fiction and 3 animated films. Most of them were domestic projects. The amount of production support ranged from 25 000 to 80 000 . AVEK has an opportunity to finance also international co-productions through Finnish co-producer. The amount of participation is normally between 10 000 - 25 000 . Finnish creative

contribution is desirable and it is connected to the amount of eventual support. AVEK can help finding Finnish co-producer if needed. email: ulla.simonen@avek.kopiosto.fi