Working With France

WORKING WITH FRANCE 30% rebate 100% film friendly

Film France promotes France for filming, animation, VFX and post-production.

We are the first stop for production companies and individuals prepping to film in France.

We rely on a network of 31 local film commissions throughout the country that offer free information on locations, local crews and facilities.

Film France provides assistance with financing your project in France: coproduction and the whole support system, as well as the tax rebate for international production (assessing the script in the light of the cultural tests and giving you further details about eligible expenses).

We also help you contact the appropriate agencies regarding locations, filming permits, as well as information concerning working here as non-EU citizen, labor rates, studio facilities, post-production facilities, VFX-vendors, animators, suppliers and talents.

Do not hesitate to talk to us about your project long in advance! We are present at events such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlinale, as well as other markets and professional meetings throughout the world every year.

Film France is a state-funded agency, supported by the CNC (the French National Center for Cinema).

www.filmfrance.net rebate@filmfrance.net 9 rue du Château d’Eau, F-75010 Paris tel : +33 1 53 83 98 90 Laurie Ades - Head of Producers’ Liaison laurie@filmfrance.net Jérémie Dubernet-Hardy - Producers’ Liaison jeremie@filmfrance.net

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VFX

FRANCE

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The Smurfs 2 ©Columbia Pictures - VFX by The Yard VFX

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TA X R E B AT E F O R I N T E R N AT I O N A L P R O D U C T I O N | 15

TOP REASONS TO WORK WITH FRANCE France offers, more than ever, international producers strong and cost-effective opportunities as a production base for their projects.

1. Tax Rebate for International Production (TRIP): A tailored incentive for your projects!

The international program applies to projects spending as little as 250 000 euros in French eligible spend or 50% of their budget in France, whichever is the lowest.

The rate is 30% and the cap per project is €30 million - There is no annual cap for the scheme!

It applies to both animated and live-action projects: series, VR, short and feature films.

French-based VFX and post-production expenditures are eligible.

2. An unbelievable and affordable range of filming locations France enjoys a breathtaking range of locations, from natural landscapes to iconic monuments: everything you need to bring value and style to your production. Don’t forget that Film France and its network of 31 film commissions can help you with that!

3. Highly trained crews French crews contribute every year to the production of 300 French features, 5000 hours of French television shows as well as more than 1230 days of non-French projects shooting days.

4. Creativity and Innovation From world-renowned animation schools to motion capture, green screen shooting, real-time VFX and VR companies, France combines creativity, know-how and innovation to satisfy every producer’s need.

5. State of the art facilities Top level facilities, including animation studios, digital labs and VFX houses that have worked on major productions such as The Minions, Despicable Me (1,2,3), Blade Runner 2049, American Gods, Twin Peaks, The Dark Knight, The Smurfs 2, Avatar, Thor and Jackie (filmed in one Paris Studio), and VR project Spheres (awarded at Venice 2018).

French crews and studios work fast with a spirit of initiative, which seduces even the most demanding directors such as Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan, Woody Allen, Pablo Larrain, Stephen Frears, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Clint Eastwood, Christopher McQuarrie, among others.

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“Kommissar Dupin” Côte de Granit Rose, Bretagne, ©filmpool fiction GmbH / Wolfgang Ennenbach

© Ronan Arzur/Endemolshine films - mascaret films

© Michel Brussol / FilmVar

WORKING WITH FRANCE FRENCH KEY FIGURES • • • •

200 million French theatre admissions per year 5000 hours of TV programming produced yearly 300 French films, including more than 120 co-productions produced yearly In 2019: 58 projects qualified for the TRIP (34 in live action and 24 in animation/VR/VFX), including 36 features and 23 series.

Two main ways to work with France: -> Either through production servicing for your filming, VFX and/or animation with the 30% Tax Rebate for International Productions (TRIP) -> Or with a French production company through an official co-production, thus qualifying your project as French

TAX REBATE FOR INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONS VALUE • The tax rebate amounts to 30% of the eligible pre-tax expenditures • The tax rebate is capped at €30 million per project • Eligible expenditures are taken into account at up to 80% of the total budget ACCESSING FRENCH TRIP The TRIP is available for companies that: • are subject to corporate income tax in France.

• act as the production services company for the sequences filmed or made in France.

The company can thus be specialized in servicing, or be a regular production company or an animation / visual effects studio, a subsidiary of the producer, a SPV, etc.

A list of French active PSC can be obtained from Film France (www.filmfrance.net).

QUALIFYING PRODUCTIONS To qualify to the TRIP, a project must: • be a fiction film (live action or animation, feature film, TV, web, VR, short film, TV special, single or several episodes of a series, or a whole season…).

• pass a cultural test.

• shoot at least 5 days in France for live action production (unless VFX/post-production).

Live-action VFX projects are eligible to the TRIP provided: 15% of the shots, or on average one and a half shots per minute, are digitally processed (on the whole film).

AND more than 50% of the French spend is VFX/post-production expenditures.

MINIMUM SPEND REQUIREMENT A minimum of €250K (or at least 50% of the production budget, whichever is lowest) must be spent on French qualifying expenditures.

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WORKING WITH FRANCE HOW TO APPLY

Provisional qualification The French production services company (PSC) applies for a provisional qualification at the CNC. The application needs to include at the minimum a signed preliminary production service agreement (PSA).

Film France assesses the eligibility of each project. When the project meets all the eligible criteria, a committee at the CNC grants the applicant a provisional qualification.

Final qualification The PSC must apply for final qualification, sending a completed form and a dvd of the finished film, maximum 24 months after the last French spend.

Collecting the international tax rebate The tax authorities may pay the tax rebate before final qualification has been received. At the end of each fiscal year, the PSC must get a statutory auditor to certify the yearly production accounts and send them to the tax authorities. A refund is issued by the French State to the extent the production tax credit exceeds the company’s tax liability. The TRIP is tax and VAT exempt.

TRIP cash flow As soon as provisional qualification has been obtained, banks are legally allowed to monetize this refundable tax credit so that the production company can get the money earlier.

QUALIFYING EXPENDITURES To be eligible, expenditures mentioned hereafter must be incurred in France by the PSC who has submitted the TRIP application for the project. Qualifying expenditures start at the date of reception of the provisional application by the CNC. The tax rebate is a maximum of €30 million per project and 30% of the following pre-tax expenditures: • Wages paid to French or EU writers and actors, and social contributions, under French contract.

• Only wages of actors are capped at the minimum set in the relevant collective bargaining agreements.

• Salaries paid to French or EU direction and production staff (wages and incidentals) including the related social contributions (French payslips) (NO CAP).

• Animation & VFX team members (NO CAP).

• Renting locations (non-classified residences are not eligible) and constructing sets.

• Expenditures incurred to specialized companies for technical goods and services based in France (including VFX / Animation / Post-production facilities).

• Accommodation, catering, travel for all cast and crew, and transport of materials.

NON QUALIFYING PRODUCTIONS Non scripted, factual, documentaries and commercials.

French projects cannot qualify i.e. official co-productions.

For further details, please refer to the Film France’s Incentives Guide (www.filmfrance.net) or the Film France / CNC Tax Rebate for International Production brochures (www.cnc.fr).

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WORKING WITH FRANCE OFFICIAL CO-PRODUCTION France provides foreign producers with many co-production opportunities and soft money sources. In 2018, 118 French features were coproduced with foreign companies originated from 42 countries.

WHY CHOOSE A CO-PRODUCTION • European co-productions can benefit from the country’s film financing system, notably the French selective schemes (see below), the automatic support for the French producer and distributor (which therefore pushes distributors to prefer French co-productions to 100% non-French films), and coin from French TV channels. Canal + and Free-to-air channels — TF1, France Televisions, ARTE and M6 — must invest a percentage of their annual revenues on French and European films.

• Most French regional funds are earmarked for 100% French projects or official co-productions.

• Sofica funds (private equity) can only invest into 100% French projects or official co-productions.

HOW TO CO-PRODUCE France is party to the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production which enables co-production of feature films amongst members of the EU and some EEA states.

France also has bilateral co-production agreements with 57 countries.

Other funding schemes are available to feature film co-productions: • Aide aux Cinémas du Monde (selective fund promoting cultural diversity – no French qualification needed under €2.5 million budget) • New technologies in production (selective scheme for digitally innovative projects).

• Co-productions with Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Canada and Tunisia can also apply to special “mini-treaties” grants.

For TV projects, please check in the Incentives Guide for details.

QUALIFYING TO THE FRENCH SYSTEM The CNC is responsible for assessing applications for qualification of a feature film or a TV project (i.e. the French citizenship for the project).

For feature films: • 2 scales are used to determine whether it is European enough and whether it is French enough. Films must score enough points on both scales.

• When the co-production is made within the framework of a bilateral treaty, the citizens of the other country qualify as European.

More on how to qualify feature films and TV projects in the Incentives Guide: www.filmfrance.net/taxrebate 8 | Working with France

DUNKIRK

LILLE

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REIMS

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GRAND EST

PARIS

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Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

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200 km

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Indian Ocean

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KEY CITIES IN FRANCE Working with France | 9

MADE IN FRANCE Recent live action films and TV series shot in France The French Dispatch, by Wes Anderson Mission: Impossible - Fallout, by Christopher McQuarrie Murder on the Orient Express, by Kenneth Branagh Dunkirk, by Christopher Nolan The 15:17 to Paris, by Clint Eastwood Riviera, by Neil Jordan, TV series (UK: Sky Atlantic) 50 Shades Freed, by James Foley Killing Eve, BBC America, TV series.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets / Lucy, by Luc Besson The Affair, Showtime networks, series, season 3 Jackie, by Pablo Larraín Ab Fab - the Movie, by Mandie Fletcher Befikre, by Aditya Chopra Our Kind of Traitor, by Susanna White Hunger Games, Mockingjay part 1 & 2, by Francis Lawrence The Program, by Stephen Frears Kursk, by Thomas Vinterberg Midnight in Paris & Magic in the Moonlight, by Woody Allen Versailles, Capa Drama, TV series, season 1-2 (UK: BBC2 / US: Ovation) Death in Paradise, Red Planet, TV series, season 1-8 (UK: BBC 1) The Tunnel, Kudos, TV series, season 1-3 (UK: Sky Atlantic / US: PBS) The Last Panthers, Haut et Court TV/ Warp Films, TV series, season 1 (US: Sundance TV) Spiral, Son et Lumière, TV series, season 1-4 (UK : BBC4) The Bureau, Federation Entertainment, The Oligarchs Productions.

The Returned (Fr), Haut et Court TV, season 1-2 (US: Sundance TV) Black Earth Rising, Drama Republic, TV series (BBC2 for the UK, Netflix for the rest of the world) The White Crow, by Ralph Fiennes Jack Ryan / The Patriot / Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Amazon, series Sense8 (last episode) / The Eddy (Damien Chazelle), Netflix, series Waiting for Anya, by Ben Cookson Johnny English Strikes Again, by David Kerr Recent animation features and series made in France The Secret Life of Pets 2, Illumination MacGuff studio (Fr), Universal (US) Sing, Illumination MacGuff studio (Fr), Universal (US) F is for Family (season 1-3), Gaumont Animation (Fr), Netflix (US), season 1 & 2 Skylanders Academy, TeamTo (Fr), Blue Dragon (US) Captain Underpants, Ouido Productions (Fr), Dreamworks Animation LLC (US) Despicable 1, 2 & 3, Illumination MacGuff studio (Fr), Universal (US) The Lorax, Illumination MacGuff studio (Fr), Universal (US) The Minions, Illumination MacGuff studio (Fr), Universal (US) My Life As a Zucchini, Rita Production/Blue Spirit/Gebeka (Fr) The Little Prince, Onyx Films / Mikros Image (Fr) Mune, Onyx Films / Mikros Image (Fr) Sherlock Gnomes, Mikros Animation (Fr), Paramount Animation (US) VFX made in France French VFX credits include American Gods, (Freemantle Media, Amazon, TV series), Twin Peaks (Rancho Rosa, Showtime, TV series), Blade Runner 2049 (D. Villeneuve), Avatar (J. Cameron), Birdman (A.G. Inarritu), Dark Shadows (T. Burton), The Grand Master (W. Kar-Wai), Life of Pi (A. Lee), Lucy (L. Besson), Thor (K. Brannagh).

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