France

[FR] Changes in support for production of documentaries

IRIS 2015-1:1/21

Amélie Blocman

Légipresse

The Centre National du Cinéma (national cinema centre - CNC) has announced changes in support of the production of documentaries (audiovisual support fund, COSIP), which has remained unchanged since 2004. In recent years, the CNC has substantially increased its support for such productions, which remain the leading audiovisual genre receiving support. The changes are the result of the consultation carried out in collaboration with professionals in the sector, which began in mid-2012 after the report entitled Le Documentaire dans Tous ses États had been submitted to the Minister for Culture. The report pointed to those areas that posed a threat to diversity in the creation of documentaries. It proposed that the industry should agree on a table of objective criteria for a closer appreciation of the different types of writing and that the debate on defining what constituted a “creative documentary” should not be re-opened. At present, the support generated by a work, in proportion to its duration, is linked to a weighting which changes for each level of capital investment in the programme on the part of the broadcasters. This system has however become rather blurred and unpredictable. The scale of weightings produces a number of threshold effects, thereby creating an imbalance between the amount invested by the broadcasters and the amount of the support generated. In addition, the rules for the current support no longer tally with the developing economy for ordering series and collections of documentaries. The reform replaces the present scale of steps with a curve, with the support being in direct proportion to the capital contribution made by the broadcasters, thereby making it possible to avoid threshold effects. It will be possible to increase the basic weighting by applying a set of objective top-ups (on the basis of the quality of the writing, potential for developing the project, editing time, etc) aimed at quantifying the artistic and technical ambition of the people making the documentaries. The reform therefore aims at providing better financing for the most ambitious and creative works, regardless of their cost. It particularly encourages the development of science and history documentaries, which will receive a 20% top-up in addition to the support generated normally. It also provides for greater transparency in the sector, by extending to all documentary works receiving CNC funding of at least EUR 50 000 the obligation to have their production accounts certified by an external auditor. The reform also aims to encourage the export potential of such works on international markets. The CNC has also announced that it will be increasingly vigilant regarding which programmes may be qualified as documentaries, specifically by setting up a specialist formation of the COSIP committee. The reform will come into effect on 1 January 2015.

The CNC has also announced the setting-up of automatic financial support for the editors of video-on-demand services (VOD) for online broadcasting of cinematographic works; this is in addition to the support already available to the sector. Since 2008, the CNC has in fact been encouraging the development of the VOD market through selection aid for showing cinematographic and audiovisual works in VOD format. This new automatic support covers all types of marketing for VOD (pay-per-view rental, permanent download or subscription), but does not include catch-up TV services.