Everyone knows of France’s deep history and ongoing excellence in the cinematic arts, but the country has been gaining popularity in the last decade as a production hot spot, thanks to incentives, diverse locations and top-notch crew.
On Nov. 14, Variety, production promotional org Film France CNC and Villa Albertine, a network for artists and ideas, team up for the French Experience, a day-long event digging into the benefits of production in France. Speakers include “The Nun II” helmer Michael Chaves, who will talk about filming the horror pic in France, as well as producer Denise Di Novi, whose upcoming FX limited series “The Veil” is filming in the country.
Fueled in no small part by an across-the-board 30% tax rebate for international productions, with an additional 10% bonus to projects that partner with local VFX houses, the French production industry has surged in recent years.
As part of the wider France 2030 investment plan, the recently implemented Great Image Factory initiative should have an all the more galvanizing effect, bolstering the Gallic production infrastructure with $376 million in public support and an additional $2.15 billion in private funds.
Some 80 international productions shot in France in 2022.
And if that rising tide will lift very many boats, its overall effects should be uniquely pronounced within the country’s booming animation and VFX sectors, which altogether account for 25% of the projects supported by the improvement project.
Indeed, the French Experience will showcase VFX with Laurens Ehrmann of the Yard. Among other big projects, the Yard worked on Hulu’s series “All the Light We Cannot See.”
For the producers of “The Nun II,” the southern region of France provided everything they needed, both in natural locations and in studios (they used Provence Studios) with VFX done in France.
High-end TV productions have been flocking to France, with the hit “Emily in Paris” set to start production again in January.
Michel Gomez, who heads Mission Cinema, the French org that coordinates shoots in Paris, said earlier this year that iconic locations like Palais Royal or the Louvre are already booked up for the first months of the year.
“Between 2016 and 2022, the number of shoots in Paris have doubled due to the output of streamers and the volume of series being produced,” Gomez said. “And whereas a film would stay for 20 days in Paris, a series will shoot for six months, so it’s a much bigger scale.”
Netflix’s hit “Heartstopper” also used Paris locations for a story arc in its Season 2, but perhaps the biggest U.S. series to hit France is “Franklin,” starring Michael Douglas as the original American multihyphenate. The period piece with an international cast is being produced by ITV Studios American and Apple Studios.
“We are a one-stop shop,” says Film France chief Daphné Lora. “We advise, support and redirect, assisting with the tax rebate, connecting international productions to local line producers and securing both shooting permits and visas for the cast and crew. And we can connect specific requests to our network of 34 regional film commissions [across the French territory].”
While next year’s Olympic Games will no doubt levy additional stresses on Paris and the surrounding region, Lora and her team want to assuage international partners, putting together a location guide of country-wide stand-ins for the capital city and a list of available studio spaces throughout
next summer.
“Areas near the Olympic sites will be affected during the competition,” Lora grants. “But studios will be available for productions and we will not see much disruption in the rest of the country. We want to send the message that France remains open for filming in 2024.”
Ben Croll and Elsa Keslassy contributed to this report.