EU as lockdown lift Must have level playing field – different

One of the main challenges facing the European Indies was the market in Rome MIA as lockdown sanctions began to emerge across the European Union after European film and TV producers were seen as surviving, growing imbalances between them and the US streaming giants. (EU).

Platforms such as Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon are considered “big winners” in the coronavirus crisis, said Carol Scotta, founder and head of Hat at Court, a prominent French producer-distributor. Diversity-Modered sessions.

Excluding immediate concerns such as protection protocols and insurance coverage for resumption of shooting, European sources are trying to think of a structural plan that will sustain them.

Spanish producer-director Alvaro Longoria, president of the European Producers Club, has revealed that the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, has created an informal task force comprising all film and TV industry stakeholders, “to understand the immediate big threat? The key is to take steps to reduce that That on? “

“The European ecosystem is made up of many small and medium-sized organizations … and local players that will suffer a lot … and the main goal of this taskforce is to prevent this catastrophe,” he said.

The main topics on the agenda of this informal task force are medium and long-term funding so that people in the industry can “survive the next few months;” Local governments may apply locally “insurance problem solving” measures; And “everyone is competing on the same basis as a result of adapting to the playing field,” he said

In this regard, Langaria said there is an ongoing effort to establish a new legislative framework so that “global streamers can somehow participate” in efforts to revive the pan-European film and TV industry by simply pumping money into European productions that are on their platforms.

“To me, the main problem is pushing platforms, which are big winners in this crisis – and some of them richer than some of our countries – to actually keep money in the system,” Scotita said.

“The bigger picture is pressuring them to invest money in the general system,” Scott added, adding that it could “help theaters, which could help distributors.” One step on the table is a “digital tax” that takes into account the amount of complaints European broadcasters make that platforms worldwide do not rely on the taxes they pay, Langaria said.

In the meantime, the soft money that Europe is best known for does not seem to have dried up, but it does seem to be harder to secure.

“German (soft money) funds came together and said, ‘OK, we need to create a rescue program,'” said Jonas Dormbach, managing director of Germany’s Compliment Film. “They put ১৫ 15 million (১ 18 million) into it and said, ‘We will spend money on every shoot resisted by the carnavirus and try to cover all the costs,'” he added.

However, the German funds gave a straightforward solution to the need for a simpler solution, moving forward, noting that they could not cover the shooting of the production without insurance.

At the moment, some shoots are starting in Germany but they are supported by broadcasters or platforms. This includes Netflix shows starting with their own insurance, noted Dormbach, who lamented: “It may not survive appropriately, where the richest owners are the strongest, they will survive.”

Marta Donzelli, co-head of Vivo Films in Italy, added that “with TV series, the platform or broadcaster is the original owner, so they are more interested in participating in the COVID-19 risk.” With the film, however, the primary rights holders in Europe are the individual producers who “certainly do not have enough broad shoulders to sustain this risk”.

“In Italy, we are trying to come up with a model where one way or another everyone contributes to the risk and shares the risk,” Donzelli said. Local legislators are “trying to involve big distributors, broadcasters, players and public funds” in a concerted effort.

The Italian Ministry of Culture is considering increasing the local tax credit for production from 30-40% of the cost, “this will provide the possibility of exploiting costs directly generated by our COVID-19 protocol,” Donzelli noted.

Another key issue in Italian industrial lobbying is the need to “take part in the tax credit and the risk of all public funds (coronavirus)” stating that these funds are operated only after the delivery of the entire product. In other words, if a product breaks down due to coronavirus, it must still be eligible for tax credits and other soft money.

Gianandria Pecorelli, head of Italy’s pro-Banjo-backed Aurora TV, lamented that broadcasters such as Italian publicist Rye “Want to hold all producers (coronavirus) responsible”

In the end, the big hope is that the European Commission will act on a new kind of agreement. Dornbach said, “What this crisis has taught us is this: We have all lost our boats on the seashore; Our second home in the mountains; Our Rolex; Large SUV. I have none of them. “

Dornbach added: “But what we’ve seen is – (Netflix stock) skyrocketing – culture really does add to our lives” and “at a European level, it should be valued.”