25/03/2008

On the occasion of the launch of The European Cinema Network, we met with the Director General of the European Producers Club.

Cineuropa: How are European co-productions faring?
Alexandra Lebret: Over the years, they’ve developed in number and in volume with a better understanding, particularly in terms of the difficulty in getting them off the ground. Producers looking for partners are less naive with regard to what a co-producer or a country can offer. They are more aware of the limits, the costs and the money they can expect to receive.

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What has curbed the rapid increase in co-productions?
Co-productions are in competition with pre-sales. When a country embarks on a co-production with the UK or Germany, its sales agent will not necessarily be delighted that there are no more major territories left in which to recover the minimum guarantee.

There are also territorial limits, and certain conditions for obtaining subsidies. A producer must know how to exploit a particular system in a particular country, but I don’t think this is a permanent and serious limitation. For example, Luxembourg and Belgium work together to try to make their two systems compatible and regional areas come to an arrangement to avoid this type of competition and the incompatibility of the criteria.

What are the current trends at a time when film laws are undergoing changes?
The end of the sale and leaseback arrangement has been disastrous for co-productions with the UK. The new tax credit system enables hardly any co-productions to be initiated, except those legitimated by the absolute requirement to shoot the film in the UK. But they don’t offer any of the financial advantages available elsewhere.

Otherwise, we’re waiting for the application decrees of the new Spanish law that will support co-productions. Italy is in the process of drawing up a similar law, Germany has already done so and in France they are talking about an international tax credit. Competition between all the different systems looks likely – producers should do a sort of comparative advantage analysis and have screenplays that are open-ended enough so that they can see which countries offer the best opportunities for making their film.

What has been the impact on co-productions of the entry of Eastern European countries into the European Union?
Relations with Eastern European countries are initially based on opportunism before developing into a more equal collaboration. There were in fact opportunities at the beginning, due in particular to the substantial differences in salary between Eastern and Western European countries. This opportunism is today affecting Bulgaria and Romania. The first wave mainly concerned the Czech Republic, which is better equipped in terms of its studios and workforce. Hungary recovered thanks to the tax credit that it offered, even though there were a few concerns about its efficiency. Meanwhile Poland is building a strong domestic film industry, which has led to more equal relations with other European countries.

Tell me about The European Cinema Network
The aim is to create a new network for film professionals, a meeting space, enabling us to build on our informal network (33 forums since December 2002 and almost 3000 participants). The website launched on March 21 enables visitors to present their projects, discuss their needs (services, "locations", "tax credit"), become informed, ask questions in the forums, interact with other visitors and put videos online.

All the members of the Club are automatically registered, but other producers who are interested must simply be invited by two members of the Club’s board of directors who are happy to welcome new entrants, particularly young producers.