Berling, Magimel, Lhermitte… The standoff won by American cinema professionals inspires 7,000 French actors and artists who demand a fair distribution of profits for productions from Netflix, Amazon, Apple and others.
There are seven thousand of them, up in arms against the wage injustices of their profession. And they are ready to strike, like Hollywood. These French actor actors claim in a open letter the absence of fair remuneration with streaming platforms. Adami publishes this column the day before the opening of the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
In 2019, a European directive on copyright was adopted to allow “better remuneration for artists and press publishers from the traffic generated by their content on platforms like Google or YouTube”. And in 2021, France is implementing a law “guaranteeing fair recognition – and therefore fair remuneration – for those who collaborate on works broadcast on streaming platforms.” The latter was to allow the negotiation of an agreement. “But three years later, no agreement has been reached”affirms the tribune.
Success or not, not a penny more
The seven thousand signatories demand a real implementation of these laws. The forum emphasizes: “Actresses and actors are not yet remunerated in proportion to the success of the work on which they collaborate.” In practice, the remuneration is determined by a fixed price before the broadcast and therefore the possible success or failure of a production. They therefore demand an incentive for results.
Anne Bouvier, actress in cinema, television and theater, and president of Adami, declares: “If fortunately, the entire planet is screwed in front of a series, how is it that no additional euro is paid to those who embody this success on the screen?” This questioning leads Charles Berling, Pomme, Benoit Magimel and Thierry Lhermitte to be among the first signatories of the platform.
Towards a French Hollywood strike
118 days of strikes and six billion dollars lost, last year’s screenwriters’ strike cost American cinema dearly. Among their demands was also a desire for better protection against low salaries from streaming platforms. Adami met yesterday with representatives of the Ministry of Culture. They ask the government to act, otherwise “we will have two solutions: a strike or legal action”, alert Anne Bouvier.
In Italy, at the end of April, three thousand Italian actors chose to take legal action. At the court of Rome, they denounce the remuneration which “the appearance only of a tip”underlines the platform. In fact, they asked Netflix for a payment of 0.4% of revenues and only obtained 0.03%. The 7607 collective, which represents them, also demands compliance with the 2019 European directive.