Towards audience-centric film funding: New strategies for commissioning youth films in Denmark

TY - JOUR

T1 - Towards audience-centric film funding

T2 - New strategies for commissioning youth films in Denmark

AU - Freudendal, Jakob

PY - 2024/3/1

Y1 - 2024/3/1

N2 - This article investigates the changed market conditions for production of films for young audiences in the on-demand age. More precisely, I analyse how the public funding of films for children and youth in Denmark has undergone significant change in response to intensified competition and waning audience interest. From the outset of the Commissioner’s Scheme for films for children and youth at the Danish Film Institute (DFI), the state subsidized main financier in the national industry, the institution has changed away from selective funding based on cultural evaluation criteria towards audience-centric funding based on market orientation and data-driven audience insights. The DFI’s objective is to reach young audiences more precisely with films that are relevant to them. Yet, one of the implications so far of this practice has been that funds earmarked by law for films for children and youth are spent on films for adults, with significant ramifications for domestic film culture for young audiences.

AB - This article investigates the changed market conditions for production of films for young audiences in the on-demand age. More precisely, I analyse how the public funding of films for children and youth in Denmark has undergone significant change in response to intensified competition and waning audience interest. From the outset of the Commissioner’s Scheme for films for children and youth at the Danish Film Institute (DFI), the state subsidized main financier in the national industry, the institution has changed away from selective funding based on cultural evaluation criteria towards audience-centric funding based on market orientation and data-driven audience insights. The DFI’s objective is to reach young audiences more precisely with films that are relevant to them. Yet, one of the implications so far of this practice has been that funds earmarked by law for films for children and youth are spent on films for adults, with significant ramifications for domestic film culture for young audiences.

KW - audience research

KW - children’s film

KW - Danish Film Institute

KW - film policy

KW - film production

KW - young audiences

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85190757338&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1386/jsca_00108_1

DO - 10.1386/jsca_00108_1

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85190757338

SN - 2042-7891

VL - 14

SP - 31

EP - 39

JO - Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

JF - Journal of Scandinavian Cinema

IS - 1

ER -