Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

The data basis is production accounts for Danish feature films that have received support from the Danish Film Institute either through the Consultancy or Market Scheme, but excl. Danish feature films that have only received launch support, support through the New Danish Screen scheme or no support. The reason why the statistics do not include the latter types of films is that producers are not obliged to submit the accounts to the Danish Film Institute, and data is therefore not available.

Data cover an average of 82 per cent of all Danish feature films during the census period, when compared with Danish titles in cinema statistics. It is noted that there are minor differences in the definition of resp. premiere year and country in cinema statistics and these statistics. Measured by the accumulated sales of cinema tickets, the coverage is on average 94 per cent. The coverage for the individual years is as shown (share of cinema sales shown in parentheses): - 2010: 83 (93) pct. - 2011: 88 (93) pct. - 2012: 95 (98) pct. - 2013: 84 (96) pct. - 2014: 76 (91) pct. - 2015: 85 (99) pct. - 2016: 78 (99) pct. - 2017: 73 (87) pct. - 2018: 81 (85) pct. - 2019: 83 (98) pct. - 2020: 100 (98) pct. - 2021: 71 (91) pct.

It is estimated that the statistics cover the majority of the economy in Danish feature film production, as several of the titles that are not included in the statistics are films that are supported under the New Danish Screen scheme. The scheme is a talent scheme / scheme for debut films that supports feature films with low budgets. It is not possible to quantify how much the statistics underestimate the financial framework of Danish feature film production.

Costs are divided into wage costs and other costs pba. items that are primarily related to the two cost types. This can lead to overestimation (underestimation) of the labor costs and underestimation (overestimation) of the other costs.

Sampling error

Not relevant for this statistic.

Non-sampling error

The statistics underestimate the total financing of, the total costs associated with and the number of Danish feature films, while it overestimates the financing per. movies and the cost per movie.

This is primarily due to the fact that the data base is feature films that have received production support from the Danish Film Institute either through Consultant or Market scheme, but excl. Danish feature films that only receive launch support from the Danish Film Institute, or which receive support through the department's support scheme for talent films New Danish Screen. Films that have not received support from the Film Institute are not included either. The films cover about 82 percent of all Danish feature films and thereby the majority of the economy in the Danish feature film production.

It is assumed that the budget for a given feature film is a good estimate for the feature film accounts. Each budget has an uncertainty margin of about approx. 5-10 per cent, which in most cases will be the uncertainty associated with using the budget for a given feature film as an estimate for the accounts. Since there will be accounts for the vast majority of films, it is estimated that the assumption will have a minor impact on the overall result.

It is assumed that costs that are primarily related to payroll costs are a good estimate of payroll costs, and that costs that are primarily related to other costs are a good estimate of other costs. This can lead to an underestimation (overestimation) of labor costs and an overestimation (underestimation) of the other costs. It is not possible to quantify the uncertainty.

Quality management

Statistics Denmark follows the recommendations on organisation and management of quality given in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and the implementation guidelines given in the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF). A Working Group on Quality and a central quality assurance function have been established to continuously carry through control of products and processes.

Quality assurance

Statistics Denmark follows the principles in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and uses the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF) for the implementation of the principles. This involves continuous decentralized and central control of products and processes based on documentation following international standards. The central quality assurance function reports to the Working Group on Quality. Reports include suggestions for improvement that are assessed, decided and subsequently implemented.

Quality assessment

The statistics contribute to an overview of the financial framework conditions for Danish feature films, and thus support fact-based debates and analyzes in the film area. The primary data base is production accounts that have been audited by state-authorized public accountants or equivalent, which helps to ensure the quality of the results. As the statistics are based solely on supported feature films, the coverage of the number of films is on average 82 per cent. of all Danish feature films and 94 per cent. of the total sales of cinema tickets. However, the coverage with regard to the economic parameters is assessed to be higher, as the feature films that are not included in the statistics are most often smaller productions. In the start-up phase of the statistics, there is a delay of 2-3 years for the financing and cost tables, but it is expected that the production time will be shorter in the long run. The statistics are comparable to annual reports from the Danish Film Institute, but there are no international guidelines for inventories of feature film economics. The results are presented in StatBank Norway and News from Statistics Denmark and are thus available to everyone. The statistics have a number of sources of error, which are described under point. 5.3. No actual quality assessment of the final results of the statistics has been carried out other than the quality assurance described during data validation.

Data revision - policy

Statistics Denmark revises published figures in accordance with the Revision Policy for Statistics Denmark. The common procedures and principles of the Revision Policy are for some statistics supplemented by a specific revision practice.

Data revision practice

The statistics are published two years after the end of the reference period with preliminary figures. As there may be delays in the delivery of production accounts, the figures are updated up to two years after the date of publication.