26/02/2014 - Four months after the launch of the OLFFI platform, its founder, Joëlle Levie, takes stock of the latest developments

Four months after the launch of the OLFFI financial support platform, Cineuropa met up with its founder, Joëlle Levie, in the context of the Berlinale Coproduction Market. It was an opportunity to take stock of the new developments in the tool, which started off by covering European funding but has now been broadened to cover the rest of the world.

Cineuropa: What is your assessment of the OLFFI platform, and how has it evolved?
Joëlle Levie: OLFFI was officially launched in October 2013. At the time, it covered European countries. By “European countries” we mean the countries that are members of the Council of Europe, so that’s around 40 countries that offer support programmes for cinema. On 5 February, we added the non-European countries that offer selective support programmes or tax incentives. We added around 80 programmes that cover the whole world: Asia, Canada (which is very active in its support for cinema, including a good number of tax credits of different types), South America and Central America (which are becoming increasingly important in the world of co-productions, and seem to have a real desire to support such productions), South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. We currently cover the entirety of the selective programmes, or what we call governmental support programmes that provide assistance to the film industry.

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In very concrete terms, what is OLFFI’s added value compared to other existing databases?
First of all, OLFFI’s added value is the ability to save time and money for a producer who would like to investigate different forms of support that he might need or that he has heard about, and that could fund his project in a different country to his own. The second added value is that OLFFI brings all of the information together in one single place – not just the support programmes that you find or the tax credits, but also information on the filming information desks, which are known as film commissions. A producer who is looking for a co-producer in a foreign country will be able to connect with the producers’ associations in those countries, the co-production agreements signed by the different countries and, lastly, any general information that could be useful, such as the VAT rate for when you’re working out your budget and cash flows, the customs regulations, the visa and work-permit regulations, and so on.

You have several subscription tariffs…
We have a very reasonable trade policy that should reflect the real financial requirements of small production companies. We have four options available. The first one, which is a version that’s free for seven days, gives the user access to all of the data in its entirety and to all of the features. Then we offer subscriptions lasting three, six and 12 months, which cost €39, €69 and €99, respectively.

What developments have you got planned for the database?
There are several developments that are currently in progress. OLFFI’s main activity is developing an application that allows a producer to match a potential project to a programme, so to be able to enter a profile for his project (who is directing, the nationality of his director, that of his technical crew, etc) and, by doing this, assess how eligible his project is for a given programme. This part of the application, which is called OLFFI Project, is currently in development and should be launched by the end of 2014.

Have you already received feedback from the producers who use the database?
To be honest, we get very little feedback. On the other hand, we have a lot of free users. The free application has been used by over 350 people so far – users who come from all walks of life. We are absolutely meeting our objective. In terms of the subscriptions, there is a conversion rate, but it’s slower. This is because we eventually noticed that producers’ needs are sporadic. That’s why we created a three-month option: it allows the producer to have access to the database for long enough to cover the territories or funds that he might need.

Apart from the support from the MEDIA programme, which partners do you have for this database?
MEDIA has been supporting us for two years, so we’re currently looking for funding from the funds themselves by asking them to support us at the same time. That way, we can complete the development of our application and also do some promotion in Europe. In return, we offer them a free licence. 

(Translated from French)