The Paris-based European Producers Club (EPC) has published a ten-point rescue plan aimed at guaranteeing the survival of Europe’s film and TV industries following the tragic effects of the coronavirus outbreak. The initiative, primarily addressing the continent’s national governments, was also submitted to Margrethe Vestager, Vice-president of the European Commission, the European Union’s administration and the European Digital Competence Framework.

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In its official communiqué, the EPC highlights that Europe’s audiovisual industry is one of the continent’s largest cultural sectors by revenue as well as “the main guarantor of cultural diversity and creativity in Europe”. In general terms, the spread of the virus has resulted in the closing of cinemas, postponed releases, and shoots that have been cancelled or interrupted across the whole of Europe. This is expected to cause obvious disruption to cash flow, bankruptcies of production companies, and further hardship for both creative and technical freelancers.

Moreover, the EPC argues that the whole industry will suffer from a rapid domino effect, which is about to hit “technical suppliers, advertisement agencies, publicity agents, theatres – altogether, millions of employees”. In order to limit the effects of the crisis, the organisation proposes ten measures to be put into effect immediately, and these involve four main areas: projects in distribution, projects in pre-production or production, projects in development, and the sustainability of creative works.

According to the EPC, the projects-in-distribution phase should be protected through two measures. The first is the creation of European and state schemes able to compensate all stakeholders in impacted releases of European audiovisual content, including producers and distributors, for losses from reduced box-office revenues and pre-sales not fulfilled, as well as promotional campaigns spent fully or partially. The second is to enhance the release of films in cinemas through online platforms allowing for fair economic compensation.

Projects currently in pre-production or production should be supported with four further provisions. The EPC is asking national governments to establish emergency funds and free-interest loans to cover the cost of freelancers, cast, crew and suppliers, to provide cash for insurance claims due to suspension of production and to cover all producers’ coronavirus-related risks forthwith so that productions can start as soon as possible, and more generally, to revise contractual deadlines and to delay tax, social security and other direct or indirect levies.

For projects in development, the EPC demands that the public funding system is kept up and running (“online if needed”), that valuable content able to lift the spirits of audiences coping with stress and confinement is promoted, and that both public and private broadcasters and OTT platforms are encouraged to continue their development activities and to get ready to “get back on track quickly and efficiently”.

Finally, the sustainability of creative works should be guaranteed by promoting the acquisition by broadcasters and platforms of all European producers’ libraries of productions, providing fair economic compensation. With any luck, the EPC’s call will not fall on deaf ears.