Films and media art

To whom

The support is awarded to an individual or a working group as a personal grant. The applicant must act professionally. The applicant must have a Finnish personal identity code.

For what purpose

Scriptwriting grants can be applied for the planning, conceptualisation and scriptwriting of audiovisual media art, short animated films, short films and documentary films.

Amount of the support

The amount of scriptwriting support is EUR 3500. Scriptwriting support can only be granted once per project.

The support is not granted for the following

• completed works
• presentation programmes of companies, institutions or organisations
• commissioned productions
• feature-length animation or fiction films
• series
• music videos or projected backgrounds
• productions of educational institutions
• educational films or learning materials
• productions made as a hobby
• equipment purchases

If an applicant has failed to submit reports related to previous support decisions in time or at all, they are ineligible for a new support.
AVEK will not grant overlapping scriptwriting support with the Finnish Film Foundation in the case of the same applicant, subject, work phase and time period.

Application process

• The support is applied for through AVEK’s application system.
• There are no application periods for the application.
• Two different supports cannot be applied for simultaneously for a single work.
• You can apply for support for one work at a time
• Applications submitted by email are not processed.

Decision process

• The applications are processed in the order they are submitted.
• The decision on granting the support is made by an AVEK commissioner.
• The average maximum processing time is two months.

Application

Fill in the basic information of the application on the application form, including the following:

Application title:
Name of the work or other identifying description
What the support will be used for in brief and non-technical language (300 characters)

One-liner/A short description of the content of the work in publishable form
Extensive content description (5,000 characters)
Content plan, work content description, a word from the author/director and their motivation

Work plan (5,000 characters)
A work plan with its schedule, including at least the artistic activities, a description of other funding, a presentation/distribution plan and a short description of key authors.

Attachments to the application:
Mandatory attachment: a sample of a previous work as a link, must be viewable directly, no downloadable links, no Dropbox/Google Docs links. Application processors cannot be required to register or use their own email address to open links.

Agreement procedure

• The first instalment of the support granted can be paid when the recipient has accepted the terms of payment and use of the support in AVEK’s application system.
• The support is paid in two instalments. The recipient of the support defines the payment schedule of the first instalment in the system. The first instalment is 80% of the support granted. The second instalment is made after the final report has been prepared.
• If the support money has not been withdrawn within three months of the support decision, the decision will expire

The agreement may be cancelled and the support recovered if

• the support is not used within the agreed timeframe and for the approved purpose,
• the recipient has provided AVEK with misleading information that has affected the granting of the support or continuation of payments or
• the final report is not submitted within the agreed time limit and in the agreed form, and the recipient has not agreed on a new procedure with AVEK.

The notice of termination will be made in writing.

Final report

The final report must be submitted through AVEK’s application system by the deadline specified in the commitment. Instructions for the report can be found on the Final report instructions page.

The project grant is a form of personal support awarded to private persons or work groups. It is intended for the production of small-scale copyable audiovisual media art works, documentary films, short films and short animated films.
The support is always work-specific and can only be granted once for a single work.

The sum of the grant is EUR 3,500 or 7,000.

The applicant must have a Finnish personal identity code.

Support criteria

• The applicant of the support must act professionally.
• The support is intended for the creation of a new work.
• AVEK’s support does not cover all of the costs of creating a work and additional confirmed funding for the work must be secured.
• Copyright licences and any possible remunerations to other parties related to the work must be taken into account in the application.
• The work must have a credible and professional public performance and distribution plan.

The support is not granted for the following:

• completed works
• presentation programmes of companies, institutions or organisations
• commissioned productions
• series
• music videos or projected backgrounds
• productions of educational institutions
• educational films or learning materials
• productions made as a hobby
• equipment purchases
• exhibitions or exhibition costs, performances or events

If an applicant has failed to submit reports related to previous support decisions in time or at all, they are ineligible for a new support.

Application process

• The support is applied for through the AVEK’s application system.
• There are no application periods for the application.
• In order for a work to be eligible for new support, an approved final report of any previously granted support must have been prepared.
• A previous approved decision does not oblige AVEK to issue additional support for the production.
• Applications submitted by email are not processed.

Decision process

• The applications are processed in the order they are submitted.
• The decision on granting the support is made by an AVEK commissioner.
• The average processing time of an application is less than two months.

Application

In addition to the basic information, the application form must include the following:

Application title:
Name of the work or other identifying description

What the support will be used for in brief and non-technical language (300 characters)
One-liner/A short description of the content of the work in publishable form

Extensive content description (5,000 characters)
Content plan, work content description, a word from the author/director and their motivation

Work plan (5,000 characters)
A production plan with its schedule, including at least the artistic activities, a description of other funding, a public performance/distribution plan and a short description of key authors.

Attachments to the application:

• total budget for the production phase and funding plan (if the cost estimate of the application form is not sufficient)
• script or extensive content plan (if necessary)
• itemisation of self-financing (required if self-financing is used)
• applicant’s CV (required)
• if the applicant is a work group, the CVs of all members of the group (required)
• link to material samples (mandatory).  A link must be viewable directly, no downloadable links, no Dropbox/Google Docs links. Application processors cannot be required to register or use their own email address to open links.

Agreement procedure

• The first instalment of the support granted can be paid when the recipient has accepted the terms of payment and use of the support in AVEK’s application system.
• The support is paid in two instalments. The recipient of the support defines the payment schedule of the first instalment in the system. The first instalment is 80% of the support granted. The second instalment is made after the final report has been prepared.
• If the support money has not been withdrawn within three months of the support decision, the decision will expire.

The agreement may be cancelled and the support recovered if

• the support is not used within the agreed timeframe and for the approved purpose,
• the recipient has provided AVEK with misleading information that has affected the granting of the support or continuation of payments or
• the final report is not submitted within the agreed time limit and in the agreed form, and the recipient has not agreed on a new procedure with AVEK.

The notice of termination will be made in writing.

Final report

The final report must be submitted through AVEK’s application system by the deadline specified in the commitment. Instructions for the report can be found on the Final report instructions page.

We grant support to audiovisual production companies registered in Finland for the costs incurred in different phases of producing copyable audiovisual media art works, documentaries, short films or short animated films. The support is available for content development and the production of the work.

Support criteria

The support decisions focus on the development phase of the production, but you can also apply for support for the later phases or for the production. The amount of available support is EUR 15,000.

Production companies can only receive support for the same project once.

The applicant must be legally required to keep accounting records.

In order for a work to be eligible for the AVEK support, there must be a credible plan for its nationwide or more extensive, professional public distribution.

The support can also be granted for international co-productions that have a Finnish production company as a minority co-producer.

• The support is granted to the Finnish production company for the production costs in Finland.
• The support’s granting criteria place particular emphasis on aspects that benefit the Finnish authors of the co-production.
• The Finnish producer must hold the work’s public broadcast and distribution rights in Finland. A co-production agreement, at least in the form of a letter of a deal demo must be appended to the application.

The support is not granted for:

• completed works
• presentation programmes of companies, institutions or communities
• commissioned productions
• feature-length fiction films, including animations
• series
• music videos or projected backgrounds
• productions by educational institutions
• educational films or learning materials
• productions made as a hobby
• equipment purchases
• exhibitions, exhibition costs, performances or events.

If the applicant has not submitted their reports on previous grant decisions in time or at all, or if they have previously received support for the same work, they are ineligible for new financial support.

NOTE! Personal scriptwriting support granted for the same project does not prevent the applicant from receiving new financial support.

The support granted by AVEK originates from remunerations collected based on collective management. For this reason, we do not grant support for works for which the author is required to transfer the collectively managed copyrights to the production company, and thereby cancel their collective management.

Application process

• The support is applied for through the application system.
• The person submitting the application must have the right to sign on behalf of the organisation.
• There are no application periods for applications, but the call for applications may be closed for a period of time announced in advance.
• Applications submitted by email are not processed.

Decision process

• Applications are processed in the order they are submitted.
• The decision on granting the support is made by an AVEK commissioner. The average processing time of an application is less than two months.
• The application can also be submitted to an expert panel for processing for special reasons.

Application

Fill in the company’s basic information on the application form.
This information includes the company’s industrial classification, which you can check here.

Application title
Name of the work or other identifying description

What the support will be used for in brief and non-technical language (max. 300 characters)
One-liner / A short description of the content of the work in publishable form.

More extensive content description (max. 5,000 characters)
Content plan, work content description, a word from the author/director and their motivation.

Working plan (max. 5,000 characters)

A production plan with its schedule, including at least the artistic activities, a description of other funding, a public performance/distribution plan and a short description of the main authors.

With international co-productions: a motivation letter from the Finnish producer and main Finnish authors (can also be included as an appendix).

Appendices to the application

• overall budget and funding plan of the production phase (required)
• script or extensive content plan (if necessary)
• breakdown of self-financing (required if self-financing is used)
• description of the applicant’s previous activities (required)
• certificate of paid taxes/tax debts (required)
• agreement on the transfer of copyrights to the production company applying for support (required)
• in international co-productions: the co-production agreement (required)
• in international co-productions: a motivation letter from the Finnish producer and main Finnish authors (required if not included on the application form)
• link to material samples (if necessary). If a login is required to open the links, separate login credentials must be created for the application, and they must be provided clearly in the application information. The persons processing applications cannot be required to register or use their personal email address in order to open links.

Self-financing

A written description of self-financing must be provided as an appendix to the application. The approved forms of self-financing include:

• work carried out by production company owners as part of a production
• use of a company’s own equipment (max. 60% of the rental price of similar equipment)
• salary transfers from key members of the working group with a written agreement
• bank guarantees or other such guarantees from a financial institution
• free equity.

Agreement Procedure 

• A written support agreement or commitment about the granted support is concluded with the recipient of the support in the application system.
• The decision to grant the support becomes binding once the recipient accepts the support agreement/commitment and the instalments with their signature via the application system.
• If the support agreement/commitment is not signed within three months of the support decision, the decision will expire.

The agreement may be cancelled and the support recovered if:

• the support is not used within the agreed timeframe and for the approved purpose
• the recipient has provided AVEK with misleading information that has affected the granting of the support or the continuation of payments
• the final report is not submitted within the agreed time limit and in the agreed form, and the recipient has not agreed on a new procedure with AVEK.

If the costs end up being less than the budget on which the support agreement was based, AVEK may cut the amount of support proportionately and recover the excess amount if the final instalment does not cover it.

The notice of termination will be made in writing.

Final Report

The final report and the appendices must be submitted via AVEK’s application system. The final report must include the following information, either filled in on the application system form or as separate appendices (see below for a detailed list).

• Short description. A description of the work and a list of the main authors for public communications (max. 300 characters). Entered directly into the application system.
• Written content report. The producer’s report on the process of the production phase/entire production regarding its content. On what the support has been used and how the set goals have been accomplished. Entered directly into the application system.
• Script / content plan. Must be submitted if support has been provided for the development of the script. As part of the previous section in the application system or as a separate appendix.
• Financial report. The producer’s report on the costs and funding as well as any deviations from the budget confirmed in the support agreement. Entered directly into the application system.
• Final, numerical financial report. A compulsory appendix. Signed by the producer and the accountant, and reviewed by the latter. The final report must be based on the accounts and include a comparison between the budget and funding plan confirmed in the agreement and the actual costs and funding, similarly to how the cost estimate was broken down in the application. Any major deviations must be explained in the producer’s written report. The accountant/accounting firm confirms that the reported costs and funding are based on the company’s accounts and connected to the production in question.
  An excerpt of the accounts is not a valid form of a final report, but such an excerpt can be appended to the report.
• Auditor’s report. An auditor’s report. A required appendix if the amount of support provided by AVEK for the project is EUR 20,000 or more. Applies to any support granted before 12 August 2025. For support granted after this date, the recipient may be obligated to provide an auditor’s report if necessary.
• Description of the self-financing, in accordance with the above definition of self-financing, either entered in the financial report section of the application system or provided as a separate appendix.
• Link to the complete work or the work in another format, as agreed upon.

Crediting AVEK 

The recipient of the support is obligated to include AVEK’s name and/or logo in the opening and closing credits of all copies and language versions of the supported work, as well as any communication and marketing materials, in the same way as other financiers are credited. The closing credits must be submitted to AVEK for approval before the editing of the work is completed.