France sees decline in film production

The decline has primarily affected French production companies, with 131 home-grown movies made during the first three quarters of 2014. Overall, film production is down by over 8% and funding has dropped by an astonishing 22.7%. Compared to the first nine months of 2013 the sudden drop is indeed concerning.

The lack of funding so far this year is on pace to total the spend on French productions during 2012 and 2013 combined - 7.2% and 3.4% respectively.

The average spend on French features is down 12.6% compared to the same term in 2013 and, as it presently stands at €4.09m, labels the sum as the lowest for French films in 15 years.

Big-budget French productions, with a €15m plus spend, are the productions that have been hit the hardest: ten films were greenlit within the first three quarters of 2012; seven throughout the identical period in 2013, but only two between January and September 2014. Lower budget films of between €2m and €7m have, however, seen a slight increase in development.

The clear trend highlights the fact that with the recent economic downturn, investors are perhaps nervous about putting capital into movie production. Combined with France’s new collective cinema agreement that potentially increases production costs, it presents a new level of insecurity for investors on the most ambitious film projects.