France wants bigger slice of Hollywood acts
Güncelleme Tarihi:
PARIS - Of the 15-odd feature-length foreign movies shot in France each year, around six to 10 are US productions. The problem is that shoots are being shortened as more and more of France's neighbours including Germany and Britain, offer cost-cutting tax rebates
Because Hollywood spends a quarter-million dollars a day when filming a blockbuster like "The DaVinci Code," shot on location in Paris, France is laying out the red carpet for 10 U.S. screenwriters in the hope of seeing more movies set in France.
From Nov. 6 to 13, a bunch of "A List" writers linked to top directors and big studios are being offered a tour of France, that will take writers on a journey through the hidden side of the country, to whet their film location appetites.
The tour will not include humdrum tourist sites like the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre which were featured in "The Da Vinci Code." Instead, the group will go on a cruise with river police, buy local vegetables with a star chef and stay in a Parisian palace, Le Meurice.
Movie tour of France
The 100,000 euro movie tour of France is being organised by Film France, an organisation that promotes French film locations, part of a large national industry currently suffering under stiff competition from its neighbours, where there are more conducive tax rebates and labour costs for film productıon.
"If we want to see more films shot on location in France, then we need more screenplays set in France," Franck Priot, deputy head of Film France, said.
"Even Quentin Tarantino, lover of all things French, is currently shooting 95 percent of his new film set in wartime France, "Inglourious Basterds," in Germany," complained Priot.
The writers may not be household names but include the likes of John August, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory;" Michael Brandt, "Wanted;" Michael Dougherty, "Superman Returns;" Derek Haas, "3:10 to Yuma;" and Edward Neumeier, "Starship Troopers."
During their stay in Paris, they will visit the city's giant larder, the Rungis Market which is the biggest market in Europe, and check out the high-speed TGV rail control centre. "Rungis is a perfect backdrop for a thriller or a love story," said Priot.
Also on the agenda is the discovery of little-known locations in Paris that are part of U.S. history, including a building said to be the model for the U.S. Capitol.
In Marseille, they will meet the heiress of the Paul Ricard pastis liquor-making empire, and walk the secret, wartime passageways, that enabled the likes of artists Marc Chagall and Andre Breton, to sneak out of France and evade the Nazis.
"We are hoping this will inspire them to write screenplays set in France," said Priot.
Seventy percent of foreign shoots in France are in Paris, or on the Riviera, so the stakes are high, said Lydie Fenech, who heads a group of 80 movie companies in southern France.
Costs in France, she said, were 30 to 40 percent higher than in sunny Montenegro.
Of the 15-odd feature-length foreign movies shot in France each year, around six to 10 are U.S. productions. The problem, said Film France, is that shoots are being shortened as more and more of France's neighbours including Germany and Britain, offer cost-cutting tax rebates.
Yet each of the big Hollywood productions shot in France between 2005 and 2007 spent a total of 10 million to 20 million euros, with daily expenses between 250,000 to 300,000 euros a day, on blockbusters.
Hotel costs alone on "Marie-Antoinette" or "Rush Hour 3" were between 500,000 and 1 million euros, with crews being put up in Paris' top hotels.
Fenech, from southern France, said hopefully the Parliament soon will enact legislation enabling rebates to put France on par with its competitors. "That would really help," she said.