Script development needs greater funds
All eyes last week were on the Centre National de la Cinématographie’s feature production funding (development and script), with the publication on its website of all the debates held on the topic at the La fémis seminar.
In the event’s preamble, CNC Director General Véronique Cayla restated objectives: to increase production funding by 25% this year (at present approximately 3% of film production funding), evaluate existing measures and "ensure that production remains independent from the laws of the market in order to assert its artistic and innovative dimension, starting from the fundamental scriptwriting stage".
In 2007, CNC funding will comprise €1m for scriptwriting and re-writing (double the 2006 amount), an annual budget of €2.6m for development support, as well as preparation backing granted through automatic support for production. Experts at the CNC have nonetheless stressed the need to increase scriptwriting funding rather than the number of projects selected and to allow double-dipping with development funding.
It is also necessary to strengthen a project’s development with a reading/analysis service, like the one in place at the UK Film Council, for example.
Bringing together directors (Pascale Ferran, Cécile Telerman, Anne-Louise Trividic), producers (Didier Brunner, Aïssa Djabri, Bruno Pesery and Milena Poylo), broadcasters (France 3 Cinéma) as well as distributors and international sales agents, the four round tables at the seminar were animated with detailed discussions.
Scriptwriter Gilles Taurand said that the "real" cost of a screenplay was somewhere around €40,000 for commissioned scripts, in addition to €20,000 if the film gets produced.
Meanwhile, Marin Karmitz (MK2) believes French cinema is very well funded, but that the average quality of production is mediocre due to a lack of professionalism and imagination. Manuel Alduy of Canal + pointed out the urgency with which films are made, while Michel Reilhac of Arte France Cinéma stated that French scripts were almost always less complete than foreign scripts.
Lastly, Thierry Wong (Sofica) believes that a number of popular actors impose their schedule on producers, which places added pressure on deadlines and can lead to production with an unfinished script.
All the debates can be consulted in French on the CNC website.
(Translated from French)
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