Race against time to get accord on future funding for Europe’s film sector

Date: 19/10/00

By John Shelley

BLAZING rows, face-to-face confrontation, stubbornness and then finally reconciliation - the battle to get and keep EU funding for the film industry has all the ingredients of a decent television movie if not a Hollywood blockbuster.

For the past six months, MEPs, the European Commission and EU governments have been locked in a furious argument over the latest round of funding to support Europe's ailing audio-visual sector. On one side of the fence are those who argue that the industry, fighting a losing battle against huge American studios, is in desperate need of any help it can get.

On the other are those who insist that if Europe's film-makers cannot turn out a commercially viable product, then throwing taxpayers' euro at them is hardly going to solve the problem.

It is ten years since EU member states first agreed to set up the Media programme to provide direct funding to European film-makers. That five-year scheme was followed, in true Hollywood sequel style, by Media II - a 310-million euro programme due to finish at the end of this year.

The Union is now in a race against time to approve the next chapter of the saga, inspirationally dubbed Media Plus. With only three months to go until the first money should be released, governments are still battling over how much should be poured into the project.

Culture Commissioner Viviane Reding has proposed a budget of 350 million euro to develop, distribute and promote audio-visual projects until 2005, with a further 50 million euro to be used for commercial, legal and technical training. MEPs insist this is inadequate and have demanded 550 million euro. Opposing the plan is a group of member states led by the Dutch who insist that even Reding's figure is too high.

The reluctance to hand over the cash is in part driven by doubts that the money spent so far has made a difference. Despite the Media programmes, Europe's film-makers have continued to lose market share over the past decade. EU-made films now account for only 15% of the European market.

The industry says it would be wrong to read this as a failure for the Media programme, claiming the drop is due not to shortcomings in Europe but rather the continued growth of the US sector. "If the Media programme did not exist our market share would probably be even lower," said Philippe Terne, secretary-general of the European Film Companies Alliance.

The industry also argues that now is precisely the time when it needs funding because without it, film-makers will lose out on new distribution and production opportunities presented by technological advances such as the Internet.

Even the most fervent Media programme evangelist would have to concede, though, that 400 million euro is little compared to the cash wielded by the big seven US studios, whose foreign box office receipts stood at $6.8 billion in 1998.

But even in EU terms, the Media programme has limited impact. A recent European Investment Bank promise to channel billions of euro into the information society sector could prove more significant and an ongoing investigation into the effect state aid has on competition potentially devastating.

This aside, however, member states will eventually reach agreement on cash for Media Plus. The immediate future of direct aid to cinema is secure. The longer term is less certain, but the film industry insists it is not worried that this year's arguments marka cooling of enthusiasm for aid. "Every time it has been hard to get an agreement, but we are always successful in the end," said Terne.

Article forms part of a survey 'EU and the media'.