Norway – Small Country with significant film production

The film production situation in Norway :

Norway, a Country with less than 5 million inhabitants, had 21 theatrical feature film releases last year, and the films had a total of 1.330.000 admissions, grossing about 99.000.000.- NOK (approx. 12.400.000 EUR / 7.920.000.- GBP) In addition, 6 feature films where co-produced with foreign film companies.

There were a total of 11.314.000 theatrical admissions last year, and the most seen film in Norway last year were Charlie and the Chocolate factory, which had 746.000 admissions, with six Norwegian feature films between the 30 most seen films.

Of the total of 230 films released in Norway last year, 119 came from the USA , 21 were Norwegian, 16 Swedish, 13 Danish, and 11 from the UK , with France , Germany , China , Spain , South Korea , Japan and Italy following closely.

A typical Norwegian feature film has a budget of approximately 2-2,5 million Euros, and the highest budget in production is at the moment about 6 million Euros.

Feature films produced in Norway are generally all supported by state funding, averagely by about 50-60% of the total budget, and the Norwegian Film Fund, which administers the state funding for feature films, has an annual budget of approx. 33 million Euros for this purpose. In addition, there are foundations that support Scandinavian co-productions, both theatrical and television releases, and also separate governmental funding for short- and documentary films. Regional film centres with local individual funding for film production was established in the 1970-ties, and the system is being expanded.

To inspire audience friendly films, theatrical releases are getting a box office bonus, 55% of each sold ticket, last year amounting to about 6,2 million Euros, which are shared by the producers according to how many tickets are sold.

The Cinematographers situation:

Working condition:

The Norwegian Federation of Cinematographers (FNF) has 95 members,

of these between 10 and 20 are more or less working full time with feature films, the rest with short films, documentaries, advertising, and TV-production.

The working condition in Norway is generally good, thanks to the long and good relationship and agreements between the Norwegian Film Workers Union and the Norwegian Film and TV Producers Association. Working days are rarely more than 8-10 hours, and working week usually 5 days, with a maximum of 6 days if on location. A typical salary is averagely 35-45.000.- Euros pr film for the DOP, and a typical shooting period is between 8 and 12 weeks.

The authorship of Norwegian Cinematographers:

Norwegian Cinematographers are accepted authors in Norway .

What is usually agreed in the DOPs contract, is that the production company has all rights concerning theatrical rights, national and international, and distribution on DVD/video.

For TV-distribution, a governmental organization, Norwaco, pays authors a yearly sum, based on what authors are involved, and how many of their films have been shown on TV-channels.

The yearly sum is based on negotiations between the filmworkers organizations and the Ministry of Culture. A yearly sum is then paid collectively to the filmworkers organizations, which in turn distributes this to the authors as grants. The collective idea has been strong in social democratic Norway, but a discussion if the authors payments should be changed from a collective payment to direct payments to the involved authors, has been going on for some years.

In addition, there is the “Feature film agreement”, where the production company pays an amount to the authors when feature films are shown on TV.

Up to a box office net earning of NOK 500.000.- (approx 60.000 EUR) the production company pays approx. 10.000 Euros to the authors.

The amount is divided the following way:

Directors: 29% paid directly to the author

Manuscript rights: 29% paid directly to the author

Actors: 10% paid collectively to the Actors Association

Composers: 10% paid collectively to the Composers Association

Ballet: 2% paid collectively tot the Ballet dancers association

Other recognized

authors:

Cinematographers,

Scenographers,

Sound designers and

Editors: 10% paid collectively to the Norwegian Filmworkers Union , and distributed as grants.

Of this 10%, 4% is recognized as the rights of the DOP, for scenography,

sound and editors: 2% each.

The Norwegian Government also pays a collective amount for the distribution of short films and documentaries in schools and libraries, which again is distributed as grants to the authors.

Working oppotrunities:

Apart from the between 18 and 22 feature films that are annually produced, there are many co-productions each year. The industry and the Government are working to inspire more co-productions between European and Norwegian production companies. A central body, the Norwegian Film Commission, has been established, and regional film commissions are being established all over Norway (for more information, see www.norwegianfilm.com)

The TV-companies are also generating a lot of work for cinematographers.

At the moment there are 4 major TV channels in Norway , in addition to

many local TV stations, but a many more digital channels are planned.

Most of the upcoming new TV channels will be specialized channels for children, sport, news, nature etc., and this will create further work opportunities for cinematographers.

Many production companies tend to favour young newly educated directors. They in turn are preferring to work with cinematographers who they have studied with or are in their own generation. (In Norway directors over the age of 50 is hard to find) This in turn sometimes makes the number of jobs in the feature film business for cinematographers over 55 harder to find, but In general, the working possibilities are good.

Distribution in Norway :

Norwegians are the Worlds highest consumers of DVD films. Averagely, every single Norwegian watches 3 DVDs pr month. Many have also advanced DVD systems and flat screens at home, and this is of course a problem for many cinemas. Although varying from year to year, the number of cinema admissions are reduced the last years. To battle this trend, and to get new releases out to more cinemas faster and cheaper (outside the 7-8 big Cities, Norway is scarcely populated), digitalization of more than 400 Norwegian cinemas are taking place. The Norwegian Film Institute and other institutions are also distributing short films and documentaries on broadband TV, with great success.

Future challenges

The last years, an emerging conflict has been emerging between directors and cinematographers, based on the Directors Unions view that the directors of photography earn too much compared to the directors salaries, compared to how many hours they each put into each assignment.

The Federation of Norwegian Cinematographers argue that it is not

Cinematographers hourly earnings that are too big, it is the Directors hourly

earnings that are too small. But this is a minor challenge that hopefully will be resolved in the foreseeable future.

All in all, the most significant battle for Norwegian and International cinematographers in the future will be to make sure the quality of their pictures are maintained in this digital distribution and copying world, and to secure their pictures from quality loss and unwanted use.

Paul René-Roestad