In a freshly published policy plan for the period 2025-2028, the Netherlands Film Fund (NFF) spotlights some of the measures the funding body plans to take to strengthen the competitive position of Dutch features at home and abroad. The measures were drawn from various reports, expert recommendations, round-table discussions and industry observations, including recent studies carried out by leading policy research institutes and creative-industry consultancies such as DSP and Olsberg SPI. The latter undertook a study in 2023, following a commission by the NFF to assess the status of local features and probe the reasons for their relative underperformance, as benchmarked against the output of four comparable European markets – namely, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden.

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The NFF’s planned measures encapsulating its vision for the coming years lay out a road map on how the funding body intends to increase the visibility of and appreciation for Dutch features in and outside the country. These measures are anchored in a number of the fund’s strategic priorities, which are as follows: 1) “quality over quantity”, or supporting fewer films with more money; 2) focus on the maker and their creative freedom; 3) the growth of new talent that goes hand in hand with the advancement of proven talent; 4) greater insight into various audiences; and 5) more room for experimentation to foster originality and innovation in narrative forms and perspectives.

CEO of the NFF Sandra den Hamer spoke of the public fund’s “unique assignment” that will grow more important in the coming years, underlining the significance of allocating “sufficient attention and budget” to the production of “original” and “distinguishing” Dutch films and series that can appeal and be pertinent to diverse audiences “amid the rapidly growing offer of film productions, from many countries on many platforms”. She notes, “In the coming years, the Netherlands Film Fund opts for quality over quantity, for more creative freedom for filmmakers and more attention for the audience.”

One of the guiding principles of this approach is the recognition of “the maker at the centre” of the process, which translates into measures that promote a stronger collaboration within the creative triangle (director, screenwriter and producer), and warrant a higher degree of creative and financial freedom for the makers in the development and realisation of projects. To this end, the fund maintains the increased financial contributions for various stages of development and reduces the number of selection rounds in its grant procedure, resulting in fewer deadlines and less administrative burden and production pressure, which should allow makers to better manoeuvre the projects and arrive at the optimally developed film plans more calmly and with greater ease. Intending to further nurture more sustainable creative collaborations within the creative triangle, the NFF is reintroducing the possibility of slate financing through which independent producers may receive funding to develop a package of projects with different directors and screenwriters.

The fund’s selection process for projects also sees some changes in the new policy period, reflecting its tiered approach and its desire for a sharper, more targeted selection of a diverse range of films (around 20 feature-length films per year are to be supported in the realisation phase, including an average of ten documentaries, five children's and family films, and one or two animated films). From 2024 onwards, pitching panels are also held as part of the selection process, where a promising idea for a feature can be “tested” before a grant application for screenplay development is made, which should raise the bar for the quality of screenplay-development submissions.

As the benefits of international co-producing are apparent in furthering the visibility of features, it is little wonder that the fund sees this as one of the spearheads in the endeavour. As discussed by various Dutch film professionals attending the Les Arcs Film Festival last year, local producers may not feel the need to cross borders to tap into different support and incentive schemes overseas, owing to the sound financing climate in the Netherlands. Yet, they could certainly lean into other benefits of international co-producing, like increased visibility of their film(s) in other markets. The value of co-producing also lies in the exposure of a project to a variety of perspectives and narrative styles and practices that may enrich the content and elevate its international appeal and relevancy to broader audiences. Measures to stimulate international co-producing can thus yield positive results. Ranging from existing co-production schemes to numerous collaborations with strategic partners and funds, the NFF’s efforts seem manifold and multidirectional (for one, it is entering into a new, targeted cooperation with fellow funds in Benelux to strengthen “the joint position on the international market”).

As for the specific categories, such as series, the NFF’s efforts continue in that area, too, with its participation in the Eurimages pilot programme for series co-productions and the Netherlands Film Production Incentive for high-end TV series, among others. The latter is reported to be boosting production activity in the country, thus increasing its attractiveness to international productions (according to the fund, each euro awarded through this scheme generates some €4.26 in production spending in the Netherlands).

With said measures in mind, however, any real attempts to achieve “pluralistic and distinctive film offerings” in the Netherlands would be futile without investing in local talent and doing justice to its broad diversity. To adequately address that, the NFF seeks to both “broaden” and “deepen” talent. Talent broadening necessitates that various schemes (eg, Cypher Cinema, Wildcards, Teledoc Campus, Filmfonds Shorts and Short Animation) and training and development opportunities are accessible to new voices nationwide, including to filmmakers from the Caribbean part of the kingdom. Talent deepening, in turn, demands continued growth of proven talent, including through schemes (eg, Cinescoop and CineDoc.Financing). For this purpose, the fund is also launching a set of new measures in a nod to its efforts to step up support of proven talent and their filmmaking careers. Among the brand-new measures is the Maker’s Impulse, offered to a creative triangle with proven artistic and/or commercial success “to work freely on their next project”. Another fresh measure is the Market Premium, made available to producers whose previous fund-supported films “managed to reach a wide audience”.

The new TalentScope talent development programme, in collaboration with ACE Producers, TorinoFilmLab and FilmForward, works in concert with the push for greater support of proven talent, focusing specifically on Dutch directing talents who have previously “proven themselves” with a short or a feature film, and are moving onto their first or second feature. Interestingly, the fund sees the support of short films, considered by many as more accessible to emerging filmmakers, not only as an independent art form or as a springboard to longer productions, but also as “an important tool for talent development” in the film industry. As it was deftly put in the policy plan, “an impressive short film can serve as a powerful calling card and an (inter)national flywheel for talent”.

A film’s success is a multifaceted phenomenon, which can be achieved and orchestrated through a combination of varied factors. On the whole, however, stimulating talent, prioritising the maker in the process and encouraging international co-productions are certainly among the measures that are essential to the recipe. The fund’s approach also pertains to the need to move with the market and audience viewing behaviours, in the direction of a multiplatform approach, just to name one. This also reflects a broader outlook that takes into account the importance of gaining greater insight into audiences as well as focusing on the entire life cycle of productions, with the revenue model lying not only in making films, but also in showing them to diverse audiences.