Cécile Gaget of Gaumont, Unifrance offers market analysis
At a press conference organised by Unifrance to present the 2010 results for French cinema abroad (see news), Cécile Gaget, who heads international sales at Gaumont and Unifrance’s economic committee, shared a few key points from her analysis of the current economic situation of film markets across the world.
"After a rather difficult 2009 for French sellers with moribund markets, depressed buyers and frozen TV investments, business has picked up since Cannes 2010. But caution still reigns. Our Italian and Spanish partners are taking big risks with theatrical distribution, which still predominates because the video and TV markets there are practically dead. Germany, the United Kingdom and Benelux are good territories because video is stable and television companies have a strong presence.”
She continued: “On the other hand, the United States has become a more complex market with the disappearance of branches of major studios: there is a concentration of buyers and the emergence of business models based on the simultaneous release in theatres and on VOD, an experiment that is gaining ground and is practised in particular by IFC and Magnolia. After a disastrous 2009, in Japan things have picked up slightly over the last few months for the acquisition of foreign films, but MGs (Minimum Guarantees) have seen an alarming drop there. A French film that was worth between $500,000 to $1m ten years ago can be bought today for between $50,000 and $150,000."
According to Gaget, "Theatres are still the best form of exhibition for reaching out to audiences. Each territory will create a micro model for exhibition of our films. The role of exporters has changed a lot. Sales companies increasingly position themselves in a project’s early stages, are involved in the search for soft money, act as negotiators with US and UK investment funds, anticipate marketing strategies…, as well as provide follow-up further down the line to motivate distributors to release French films and exhibit them well."
(Translated from French)
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