NATIONAL FILM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED
(A Government of India Enterprise)
Discovery of India Bldg.
Nehru Centre, Dr. A. B. Road,
Worli, Mumbai 400018.

website: www.nfdcindia.com E-mail: filmfinance@nfdcindia.com

BYE-LAWS & REGULATIONS

In exercise of the powers conferred by Article 80(16) of the Articles of Association, the Board of Directors of the National Film Development Corporation Limited has, in its meetings held on 23rd June, 30th August 2006 and 15th September 2009 amended the following Bye-laws and Regulations for the regulation of the Corporation’s Scheme for Film Production and related activities.

1. Definitions:

In these Byelaws and schedules, unless it be repugnant to the subject or context:

1. ‘CORPORATION’ means the National Film Development Corporation Limited.

2. ‘PERSON’ includes firm, Corporation, company as well as individual.

3. ‘APPLICANT’ means a person, who has submitted a project for production by the Corporation.

4. ‘BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ or ‘BOARD’ means a meeting of the Directors duly called and constituted, or as the case may be, the Directors assembled at a Board Meeting or acting by Circular under the Articles of Association of the Corporation.

5. ‘CHAIRMAN’ means the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

6. ‘DIRECTORS’ means the Directors for the time being of the Corporation, or as the case may be, the Directors assembled at a Board Meeting.

7. ‘MANAGING DIRECTOR’ means the Managing Director of the Corporation.

8. ‘DIRECTOR (FINANCE)’ means the Director (Finance) of the Corporation.

9. ‘GENERAL MANAGER’ means the General Manager of the Corporation.

10. ‘SECRETARY’ means the Secretary of the Corporation.

11. ‘PROJECT’ means the feature film, documentary film, featurette, or any other objects for which an application for loan/finance is made to the Corporation.

NOTE: Words imparting the singular number include, where the context admits or requires, the plural number and vice versa, and words imparting the masculine gender also include the feminine and neutral genders.

2. Procedure for submission of application:

1. Applications should be submitted in duplicate in the printed forms prescribed by the Corporation. These are available at the NFDC’s Corporate, Regional and Branch offices (addresses given in Annexure) and can also be downloaded from the Corporation’s website http://www.nfdcindia.com.

2. The application for feature films should be accompanied by:

• Four (4) copies of typewritten script, translated in English, and one (1) copy in the language in which the film is to be made.

• Four (4) copies of synopsis in English (1-2 pages).

• Treatment: 8-10 pages in English.

NOTE: Full script is not accepted as replacement of the treatment.

• Bio-data of the Director

• Statement of the Director on the project, including the strategy for marketing, promotion, and release of the film.

• Budget outline

• VHS/VCD/DVD of previous work done in any capacity by the Director for directing/making and producing such work.

3. The application for short/featurette films should be accompanied by:

• Two copies of the script in English

• Two copies of the synopsis in English duly approved by the sponsors of the project.

• Treatment of the story to be submitted in 3-4 pages.

• VHS/VCD/DVD of previous work done in any capacity by the Director for directing/making and producing such work.

• Bio-data of the Director

3. Processing Fees:

Each application should be accompanied by a processing fee as per the amounts prescribed below:

1. Rs.2000/- for each application for production of short/featurette films.

2. Rs.5000/- for each application for production of feature films

NOTE: The processing fee charged is non-refundable.

4. The Board of Directors may appoint a Panel of Members consisting of persons distinguished in the fields of art, culture, education and/or who have a background of film production/direction/criticism or appreciation from amongst whom, the following Committees shall be constituted to advise the Corporation on proposals submitted for production of films by the Corporation:

1. SCRIPT COMMITTEE: For examining the Application and Script in case of feature films, short/feature films.

2. SPECIAL COMMITTEE: For other projects or for any other purpose not covered by the above.

5.

1. The Chairman of the Corporation shall be the Chairman of the IN-HOUSE SCREENING COMMITTEE. Meetings of the Committee as and when necessary will be called by the Chairman who will also preside over the Meetings. The Managing Director of the Corporation shall be the member of the Committees. In the absence of the Chairman, the Managing Director or a local member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation will preside over the deliberation of the Committee. The members shall be the Managing Director, Director (Finance), General Manager and Deputy General Manager (Film Production). This Committee shall examine the proposals recommended by the Script Committee.

2. The Chairman may, in his own discretion, reject an application without forwarding it to the Script Committee/Board/or to any special committee constituted as aforesaid by the Board, if, on scrutiny of the application and the script and in the light of the report on it, he is of the opinion that it is a case which does not deserve consideration by the Script Committee/Board. He will subsequently inform the Board about the same.

3. Upon recommendation of a proposal by the Script Committee, the applicant will furnish additional information of the Project in FORM 'B' to the Corporation for circulation.

4. The Managing Director, in consultation with the Chairman, may place all the proposals, except those rejected by the Chairman, along with a report on the proposals and recommendations of the concerned committee, before the Board for its consideration.

5. The Board may, in its discretion, sanction or reject a project on the prescribed terms and conditions thereof or may authorize the Managing Director to finalize the same in consultation with the Chairman.

6. The above Committees shall meet once in every quarter.

7. If required, the In-House Screening Committee may also seek the opinion of an expert on the technical aspects of the proposed project.

6. In the case of co-productions and international co-productions, the quantum of investment by the Corporation and the terms and conditions of the agreement shall be determined by the Board, keeping in view the details of the project under consideration. The Board may also, in its discretion, request the co-producer to remit an interest free deposit as collateral security to the tune of such amount as the Board may decide. Once the terms and conditions of the Co-Production have been finalized, the applicant shall furnish a completion bond or an undertaking from the bank where the funds are placed by the Applicant with instructions to release funds as and when required for production of the film, and as detailed in the Co-Production agreement. All expenses pertaining to the project will emanate solely from this account.

7.Where the Corporation is the sole producer of the proposed film, the Board may sanction up to a sum not exceeding Rs.200 lakhs for the project, keeping in view the requirements of the project and the recommendations of the committees examining the proposal.

8. Production of films by the Corporation: Terms and Conditions:

1. Only the first feature film or short/featurette film of the applicant Director, as the case may be, is eligible for financing under the 100% production scheme of the Corporation.

2. The Corporation will undertake production of the film and will have all rights over the film and the story/script.

3. The Script will be evaluated by a Script Committee. However, the Corporation reserves its rights to refer the script to advisors/script doctors for further improvement, if required.

4. The proposal thus evaluated and recommended by the Script Committee will be placed before the In-House Screening Committee for a detailed appraisal. Based on such appraisal, the Committee shall approve/reject the proposal.

5. The proposals recommended by the In-House Screening Committee will be submitted to the Board of Directors for the final decision of the Corporation.

6. The Corporation shall, for the purpose of production of the film, enter into an agreement with the Scriptwriter and such Agreement shall contain the terms and conditions as the Corporation may decide from time to time.

7. The Corporation shall appoint a person of its choice to direct the film on such terms and conditions as the Corporation may decide.

8. The shooting film in digital cameras along with sync sound would be preferred so that the production of the film shall be of internationally marketable standards and length of the film to the extent possible be confined to 90-100 minutes.

8. The Board may also, in its discretion, nominate a Sub-committee of its members to go through the details of the project and such sub-committee will submit its report to the Board for its final decision on the project.

8. The agreement with the Director is liable to be cancelled by the Corporation in the event of any of the following:

• If the Director does not commence the production of the film within a period of six months from the date of signing the agreement with the Corporation, or

• Does not comply with the stipulations laid down in the said agreement during the course of production of the film.

10. For each approved production, the Corporation will appoint an Executive Producer/Line Producer. The Executive Producer/Line Producer would be required to submit a Weekly Progress Report on the film under production to the Management of the Corporation from the commencement of the project until the film is ready for certification by the CBFC with a view to monitoring that the budget provisions submitted by the Director are adhered to, and work in all stages of the film is completed as per the time bound schedule submitted by the applicant.

11. All disbursements will be made according to the requirements of the project and as decided by the Corporation or the Executive Producer/Line Producer appointed by the Corporation.

12. The project shall be insured to the extent permissible under the extant insurance schemes available for purposes of film production. The expenditure on account of such insurance shall be accounted for in the production budget submitted and the Executive Producer/Line Producer so appointed shall be personally responsible for lodging any claim in the event of any contingency on the film for which insurance cover is taken.

13. The Executive Producer/Line Producer will ensure that all statutory regulations are complied with including the provisions contained under section 285(b) of Income Tax Act and its amendment thereon.

14. On Completion of each film, the accounts of the film shall be duly audited by the Internal Auditor appointed by the Corporation.

15. The Executive Producer/Line Producer will also view the rushes of the film and certify in his Weekly Report that the film is being made as per the approved script. The Executive Producer/Line Producer shall form an integral part of the production team.

16. The Director to whom the film is allocated shall be required to submit a time bound production schedule at the time of submission of FORM 'B' .

17. Where the Corporation is the sole producer of the film, the Director shall be entitled to 7% of the total net profits (after recouping the expenses incurred such as production, publicity, exploitation and other related expenses on the film), accruing from the sales of the film as and when received by the Corporation, in addition to the Director’s fee, which shall constitute part of the production budget. Similarly the Scriptwriter would be entitled to 3% of the net profits (after recouping the expenses incurred such as production, publicity, exploitation and other related expenses on the film).

18. In addition to the terms of Para 8 (xvi), the Director of the film shall also be entitled to receive the cash component of awards received by the Corporation (as the Producer of the film) under the National Film Awards.

19. The Board may commission its own Director and Production Unit for the production of the film in entirety or its part thereof on a Project approved by the Board.

20. The expenditure incurred by the Applicant, prior to final approval of the project by the Board, will not be reimbursed.

21. The title of the film registered with the Producers’ Association in the name of Applicant will be transferred in favour of the Corporation prior to signing of agreement.

9.

1. In the event of any dispute/interpretation arising in respect of the above Clauses/Byelaws, the decision of the Chairman of the Corporation shall be final and binding upon the parties.

2. The Board of Director may prescribe from time to time any other terms and conditions in addition/alteration/substitution of the above guidelines.

Click here to download FORM 'A' and FORM 'B'