TV drama producers in London, Paris trade mission

A Tale of Two Cities will run from 16-21 November and, in true Anglo-French collaboration, will incorporate a cross-channel business session on board the Eurostar.

The project has been flagged up earlier in the year with a call for applications from London-based TV drama producers with development projects suitable for a UK-French co-production that would fully utilise the UK high-end tax relief and the French TRIP scheme (Tax Rebate for International Production).

The sojourn begins on 16 November, when the six London producers set off to Paris for a series of networking events, production facility tours, location visits and industry sessions. They return to London two days later with their Parisian opposite numbers for a major conference called Content London, a tax relief seminar, and a tour of London locations.

Adrian Wootton, chief executive of Film London and British Film Commission, said of the new scheme: “To paraphrase Dickens, the ‘Tale Of Two Cities’ project is a far, far better thing than Film London and Ile De France have done before in terms of breaking new ground and strengthening the ties between our television industries. Borrowing the title from one of Dickens’s great novels is also apt, as he was a Francophile with a true passion for the French language.

“The initiative represents a snapshot of Film London’s work to boost business, proactively create positive opportunities for our screen industries and sell the capital as a first-class city in which to do business. I hope to see this trip result in some exciting new co-productions.”

CEO of Ile de France Film Commission, Olivier-René Veillon, said: “The cities of Balzac and Dickens have long been at the very heart of modern storytelling. And they can be today: so close in the large new world, where in just two hours London can become an exotic area of Paris and Paris an even more exotic part of London – the heart of ambitious international production. The French public love British series and after the success of The Returned on Channel 4 the British public is ready for new discoveries.”