Scott Roxborough relates in The Hollywood Reporter that the Indie Film Business Wins European Territory Rights Battle.
Recall that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had a vision where:
“…we must create a digital single market for consumers and businesses – making use of the great opportunities of digital technologies which know no borders. To do so, we will need to have the courage to break down national silos in telecoms regulation, in copyright and data protection legislation, in the management of radio waves and in competition law. If we do this, we can ensure that European citizens will soon be able to use their mobile phones across Europe without having to pay roaming charges. We can ensure that consumers can access music, movies and sports events on their electronic devices wherever they are in Europe and regardless of borders.”
This threatened the traditional country-by-country pre-sales strategy filmmakers have used to raise money for their budgets in Europe, fearing the digital single market would mean distributors could pay for one territory and get 27 for free. Roxborough first reported on this four years ago; see What’s Behind a Europe Plan That Would “Destroy” Independent Film.
Late last month, in the midst of Brexit, the European Parliament finally got around to approving this legislation, by a vote of 460 to 53. But with a few key compromises:
“The digital single market will apply to online services for news and current affairs — meaning the BBC or Italy’s RAI can offer their online reporting to anyone in Europe. The same applies to productions, including films and TV series, that are fully financed by a single network. But co-productions or films pre-sold in the traditional manner, as well as sports rights, are excluded from the new law. Here the old rules apply: online platforms will have to clear rights in each territory they want to operate in.”
My take: So it’s a blending of old and new. The “fully-financed” stream is interesting because I think it means rich producers (Netflix et al) will be able to treat Europe as one 500-million-viewer territory. Truly indie filmmakers though will still have access to traditional pre-sales, cobbling together an amalgam of territories, soft money and some actual investment in order to raise enough cash to shoot. I know which avenue sounds easier to me.