EPC backs digital conversion, opposes pan-European licensing
by Cineuropa
The European Producers Club (EPC), an association of Europe's leading independent film producers, has announced their support of digital conversion and opposition to pan-European licensing.
In position papers on the subjects, they state: “EPC approves of all national initiatives towards investment in digital cinema conversion, whether through mutualisation funds, tax credits, bank guarantees, etc. EPC also supports all VPF (Virtual Print Fee) systems that do not exclude any specific film or distributor, as this would lead to a monopoly and homogenisation of the market by the major studios. The EPC is fully against any kind of system that creates financial distortion between films, and therefore endorses VPF systems that are open to all.
“The EPC would also like to restate the need for extreme care in protecting works against piracy. In the spirit of digital conversion, EPC hopes that the drop in projection-linked costs may lead to a greater number of films to be shown in movie theatres, and may promote a diversity of films and of distributors. In this way, digital cinema would contribute fairly and concretely to the flourishing of the European film industry”.
As for pan-European licensing, they reiterate their opposition, stating: “There are several reasons for our position. First, the revenue generated by a pan-European license would be far less than revenue received from sales to individual countries. As we have seen in the past, recoupment on a second market is near impossible. Second, the territorialisation of film releases involves two market constraints – budget and promotion – that make a pan-European release impossible.
“With the regards to the former, the under-capitalisation of production companies, and their cash problems, mean that films need to open at the earliest possible date in order to recuperate investments as quickly as possible. A pan-European release wouldn’t be able to fit into these rapid release dates.
“As for promotion, the constraints linked to media, an essential tool for promotion, are obvious. The first direct consequence of pan-European licensing would be the uniformisation of language, in favour of English of course, and the silencing of our native languages. We would have a single language market, and a loss of our cultural identity. “
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