3 days ago
Euro Networks Talk Streamer Levies & 'Talk Of The Town' Scripted Co-Productions
Seriencamp kicked off here in Germany today with familiar themes dominating chatter – money, streaming levies and co-productions.
The first morning of the German TV industry event in Cologne saw 14 European networks such as ZDF, France Télévisions and NRK outlining their international co-production strategies.
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Unsurprisingly, given the challenged state of the market, talk around financing took up as much time as content strategies, wish lists and why most networks have pivoted to streaming-first commissioning. Smart collaborations, making money stretch and partnering with both European partners and global streamers were keys for most of those on stage.
During one section of the talk, commissioning execs from Belgium's VRT and Switzerland's SRF addressed how global streamer levies in their territories had been received.
Elly Vervloet, Commissioning Editor and International Drama Expert of VRT, outlined how a levy in the French-speaking Wallonia area of Belgium, which orders broadcasters and streamers with sales over €150M ($170M) up to 9.5% of their local revenues on local production, had highlighted that local networks needed to supercharge development.
'We have to produce in a smart way – we don't have a lot of money, as we are a small broadcaster,' she said. 'Luckily, we have a funding system in Belgium that really helps with funds the tax shelter. With the investment obligations for telcos and streamers, it's really important to get the ball rolling.'
Netflix made a legal challenge against the levy in August and was joined by Disney, which declared itself an interested party. Given Donald Trump's tallying cries against international streaming levies and his well-publicized spats with the European Union over trade, the case is being categorized by some commentators as the test case for similar cases elsewhere.
For now, however, it remains in place, sitting alongside Belgium's favorable funding systems.
Similarly in Switzerland, the implementation of the streaming tax, dubbed locally as the 'Lex Netflix' is being keenly felt. With local streaming services become increasingly popular with audiences and searching for ambitious projects, the idea of collaboration between them and the likes of Netflix is being studied as a business model.
Bettina Albert from SFR said: 'The difference to Belgium is we don't have a funding system and it is a problem. Now we have the 'Lex Netflix,' and we can see the number of projects that are coming to us as interesting co-productions are increasing.'
However, after the session we spoke with a well-connected source in the Swiss scripted market, who told us that while there had been in boom in development following the levy's introduction, primarily for Netflix, this had not yet resulted in a significant number of commissions. 'We all want them to get started,' they added.
Elsewhere in the Seriencamp kickoff session, Mourad Koufane from France Télévisions' international co-production team summed up what international co-productions needed to achieve for the French pubcaster. At present, France Télévisions only makes three international co-productions a year, through European commissioning club The Alliance.
'When we choose these three projects, it is important they are super-impactful and organically internationally,' he said. 'Even though we are doing very few, we hope they will be the talk of the town in France.'
Seriencamp, which brings together German's local scripted community with international players, began today at the Cinenova in Cologne. It runs until Thursday (June 6).
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