Oulu audiovisual production incentive

Under the Business Oulu public utility, the North Finland Film Commission aims to support and promote the growth of the audiovisual sector in the region. In June 2021, the City of Oulu launched a production incentive for the audiovisual industry, which allows the production companies to get up to 10 % of the production costs incurred in Oulu refunded.

For the year 2024, the incentive is granted by BusinessOulu with annual budget of EUR 200 000. At the beginning of 2024, the city of Raahe joined the scope of the production incentive with its own incentive budget of 20,000 euros.

The incentive can also be applied for the pre-production and post-production phases. Applications will be processed in the order of arrival.

Eligible costs are all the following expenses related to the production and incurred in Oulu/Raahe:

• purchases of services and goods
• salaries paid to Oulu/Raahe residents
• equipment rentals
• other costs (flat rate 20 %)

The production shall:

• make use of Oulu/Raahe as a location and/or
• use artistic or other creative expertise acquired in Oulu/Raahe

Productions that form an independent, artistic work and have a distribution plan and distribution agreement, as well as 50 % of the total production budget already in place, can apply for the production incentive. If the applicant is a foreign company, a Finnish co-producer or production coordination company must be involved in the production. The incentive is not provided for commercials or promotional videos.

Read carefully the general terms and conditions of the Oulu audiovisual production incentive and the application form (updated February 2024). If the production does not meet all the criteria listed in the conditions, please contact the Film Commission before submitting the application.

If all the application criteria are met, send the completed application in PDF format to the City of Oulu registry at kirjaamo@ouka.fi. Mark it with the tag “Oulu audiovisual production incentive”. The application is deemed to have arrived on the date on which all the information and/or documents required to meet the application criteria are received at the Registry.