International Spend On French TV Rockets To Record €678M As Tax Rebate Reaps Rewards, Says Unifrance Report

deadline.com:

International spending on French TV rocketed by 38.8% last year to €678M, with a huge increase in studios taking advantage of the nation’s tax rebate, according to Unifrance’s annual French TV Export report delivered at the body’s Biarritz Rendez-Vous this afternoon.Investment in projects that used the Tax Rebate for International Production (TRIP) more-than doubled to €302.7M (the euro and dollar are virtually equal at present), while sales and pre-financing of French shows rose by 6% to €375.9M.

In years gone by, this latter figure has tended to be far higher than the TRIP number.The record figures were reflective of a year in which things started returning to normal following the damage inflicted by the Covid pandemic, while demonstrating a French TV creative community in rude health.Foreign pre-sales in French content crossed the €100M mark for the first time, another record, while pre-sales of drama rose sharply to €45.5M and foreign contribution to co-productions hit its highest number for two decades.The likes of TF1/RTS 1’s High Intellectual Potential and Canal+’s Paris Police 1900 were flagged as success stories.“The figures show French production is attractive for all genres and we can be proud of it,” said Emmanuelle Jouanole, the President of SEDPA, France’s union of TV distribution companies.Delivering the figures in a press conference in the past hour, Jouanole said they are testament to major changes in buyer activity, with more streamers taking worldwide rights to shows.“These platforms really do breath life into this market,” she added. “Moving rights worldwide has big international scope and tends to have a strong impact on distribution.