Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos used the Paris premiere of “Call My Agent! The Movie” to underscore the streamer’s importance to France’s entertainment industry amid a regulatory battle over the country’s investment obligations and release window.
“We’re not just like an outsider being in France. We are vital to the entertainment community here in our investment, both the $250 million that we spend in series and film, but also $50 million in French cinema. So we’ve been very supportive of the system and we have a great relationship with the government here,” Sarandos told Variety on the TV line ahead of the screening at Paris’ Olympia Theater, where the Cesar Awards take place every year.
Sarandos was fresh from Saint-Paul-de-Vence, where he attended the Lumière Summit co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
Netflix, Amazon and Disney have recently appealed to the Council of State, France’s highest court, over new sub-quota requirements. Netflix’s Pauline Dauvin has also penned an op-ed arguing that French investment obligations were becoming too rigid and detrimental to the platform’s editorial freedom. Netflix and Amazon have also separately lodged appeals to the Council of State over the 17-month release window for newly released movies.
