A number of French producers have expressed serious relief following the announcement of the signing of a new agreement between Canal+ and French film, the latter represented by the professional organisations BLIC, BLOC and ARP. Relief, because there hadn’t been any committees coming together at Canal+ - the undisputed, No.1 funding partner for French film - since the end of last year, with the result that no pre-purchasing or costing decisions had been made, stymying the entire film production chain.

It’s not all rosy, however, since the planned investment figure is clearly lower than in previous years. The new agreement, which covers three years and is tacitly renewable, will see Canal+ (encompassing Ciné+/OCS) committing up to an average of €160m per year (€150m in 2025, €160m in 2026 and €170m in 2027) versus €220m over previous years (and a five-year agreement). In exchange, Canal+ will get to consolidate its privileged position in terms of media chronology windows, broadcasting films just six months after their cinema release.

Using a communicating vessels logic, film organisations are hoping to offset lower investment from Canal+ with a rise in funds from streamers, as per the agreement with Disney+ announced on 29 January (read our news - an investment in the form of buying and pre-purchasing films worth €115m over three years, versus a little under approximately €30m over the previous three years, and a more advantageous media chronology position which will see them broadcasting films 9 months after their cinema release). Discussions are also allegedly underway with Amazon Prime Video in the hope that the platform will double its annual commitment (from €8m to €16m) in exchange for a more favourable media chronology position (broadcasting films 15 months rather than 17 months after their cinema release), while the agreement signed with Netflix back in 2022 has been extended by one year in order to continue discussions (Netflix currently invests approximately €30m per year, in exchange for a chronology window of 15 months post-cinema-release).

You don’t need to be a mathematician to conclude that, given the current context, we’re going to see a fall in overall investments in French film from subscription-based broadcasters. In fact, producers actually fear even greater disengagement on the part of Canal+. They are, however, finally emerging from a period of zero visibility. But belts will need to be tightened. Moreover, even if the loss in funds from Canal+ is wholly mitigated by streamers over time, there will still be an impact on the type of films produced, because where Canal+ invests in all genres and at all budget levels, streamers tend to neglect arthouse films, especially works by young promising talent who need time to develop (filmmakers who take the world by storm with their 3rd or 4th feature films, for example, such as Justine Triet with Anatomy of a Fall [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Justine Triet
scheda film]).

Either way, it’s a subject to be continued…