The interim president of the CNC since 28 June, Olivier Henrard made the most of a press conference held in recent days to review the state of the film sector in France, the projects underway, current areas of work and, last but not least, the unmistakeably European subject of investment obligations on streaming platforms.

Celebrating the healthy state of cinema attendance with 117.75 million admissions recorded in the first eight months of 2024 (with 44.1% of the market share claimed by French films thanks to summer hits such as A Little Something Extra, The Count of Monte-Cristo [+lee también:
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Over and above the continuation of various operations, such as the "broadcasting plan" (60% of additional support for 110 festivals in France, designated aid for itinerant festival circuits, and a rise in the number of cinema mediators), the "France 2030 plan" (news), and measures introduced to combat sexist and sexual violence and to help move towards eco-responsible approaches, the interim president of the CNC also insisted on the need to "protect our model during budgetary debates in France, but also in Brussels where the Americans, notably the MPAA, are making the most of the current interregnum between two commissions to reignite the fight between the French cultural exception and the US lobbying approach by attacking sector-specific taxes, media chronology windows and the obligations set out by the European directive on audiovisual media services (AVMSD). They’re feeling particularly agitated about it because they’re realising that our model is proving more and more successful. In fact, Germany - where the situation is complicated between the federal government and the Lander territories - is considering taking a similar leap towards investment obligations".

"Until now, streaming platforms have contributed up to €350m towards the funding of French creation, 20% of which has been siloed into film", Olivier Henrard reminded listeners. "We have to defend the AVMS Directive because investment obligations are working, they’re generating audiences on streaming platforms, as demonstrated by French series or films like Jeanne du Barry [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (co-produced by France Télévisions and pre-purchased by Netflix); they’re creating value. They’re financially interesting for platforms and it’s a win-win situation for both parties. And this €350m helps us to reach our cultural diversity objective, because a proportion of these funds is re-routed towards independent works which helps producers to hold onto the rights to their works and create a catalogue. Platforms have to contribute 20% of their turnover in France - this framework had been discussed at length with them and there’s no going back. It’s true that there’s a dispute taking place in Belgium, but it can’t be compared to the situation in France in terms of our talent pool and market size.

"I don’t believe that this 20% investment obligation is an issue for platforms in France. As it stands, they’re not looking to call it into question, they’re looking for greater rewards, improvements in operating margins, and potentially higher positions in media chronology windows (though not too high, otherwise they’d be expected to increase their investments) or more flexibility over their obligations towards independent productions. Ultimately, they’re looking to move towards the executive production model they managed to impose in Spain and which initially worked well, keeping studios busy and creating jobs. But when the Hollywood strike hit, everything stopped: that’s the risk when you’re bound hand and foot to the people giving out orders".

"France has a head-start, it’s applied the directive for three years now, and the CNC together with ARCOM (the French Audiovisual and Digital Communications Regulation Authority) are finalising a report on these three years of investment obligations which should be ready in November", Olivier Henrard concluded. "All countries within the European Union are seeking our expertise: that’s what’s making our American friends nervous and that’s why they’re making a lot of noise in Brussels, where there’s not a great deal of sympathy for the French position at the moment. But it was the same thing when we were looking to introduce the AVMS Directive: it was a struggle to begin with and it will be a struggle once again as people try to undermine it".