This study is not expected to please the film industry. On Tuesday, 22 January, several experts from the academic world presented the results of their research on the financing of European films. Their conclusion: territoriality, the cornerstone of the current audiovisual landscape, is expected to gradually be replaced by language exclusivity.
The study notes tensions between the vague desire to create an internal market and the principle of territoriality, which allows right-holders to negotiate the distribution of their work country by country. It adds that many European films lack economies of scale and are dependent on country-by-country exploitation after good reviews or festival results.
“Territoriality is used as a means of attracting funding. We are not criticising this model, but we are saying that it is not sustainable insofar as the legislation deviates from this principle”, explained Bernt Hugenholtz, Professor of Law at the University of Amsterdam and co-author of the study entitled “Film Financing and the Digital Single Market: its Future, the Role of Territoriality and New Models of Financing”. “We suggest, as an alternative, language exclusivity, which would have the same task but would be more robust”, he continued.
In addition to language exclusivity, the authors of the study recommend the following changes: (1) to the extent that territorial exclusivity is still indispensable for some time to come, the European Commission, which handles competition law, should create a specific competition law in the form of a “block exemption”, which would immunise territorial exclusivity; (2) support systems for creation should be directed more towards young people and transnational cultures; (3) regulations concerning funding bodies, broadcasters and national legislation should be reconsidered in order to strengthen the traditional windowing system (challenged by the Internet); (4) Member States’ and the EU’s support policies should be made more selective by offering larger budgets for fewer films as well as for distribution and promotion.
See the study: https://bit.ly/2HoJg4z. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)