French distributors look to weather the storm

Market shifts were at the heart of Unifrance’s 32nd Rendez-vous in Le Havre, likely to be the last held in the docks of the northwestern French town as the event weighs up relocation next year.

There was a concerned mood among French distributors on opening night, following recent news including the bankruptcies of key documentary exporter Terranoa and related prodco Gédéon Programmes.

Last month’s report in Reuters that TF1 is exploring a sale of TF1 Studio also weighed on attendees (the company declined to comment the story), while sharply declining export figures for 2025 did not help moods either. 

However, the atmosphere soon warmed up as activity on the floor picked up.

Most distributors said they were not surprised that sales are declining amid a tougher marketplace, with deep market changes such as the end of the streaming boom and a squeeze on broadcasters - as well as rising production costs - impacting figures.

International broadcasters are revising their strategies, exporters reported, and while they do so, they are slower to make decisions. Redundancies are also leaving buyers’ positions vacant, while others are seeing long-running programming strands cancelled.

Documentary players are especially worried by the pressures facing public broadcasters worldwide, because they are their main buyers.

Strategy revisions

As a result, industry players are revising their strategies to adapt to these changes, starting with Unifrance itself regarding the September Rendez-vous event.

After moving from Biarritz to Le Havre three years ago, the Rendez-vous lost buyers along the way. However, Unifrance MD Daniela Elstner pointed out that this was not so much due to the location, but rather because buyers split into two camps after TV export body TV France International merged with film organisation Unifrance three years ago, and the Paris January film event opened its doors to TV.

“We now have around 135 buyers in Le Havre and over 100 in Paris, perhaps 250 altogether, up from 220 in Biarritz,” she says. As a result, plans are underway to reposition the January Paris event primarily as a film market and redevelop the September event as a must-attend TV Rendez-vous, with September better suited for TV in terms of timeline.

Plans may also include moving to a more attractive location, possibly in the South of France. January press junkets will, however, continue to include TV shows because it remains important to promote local TV talent abroad, she added.

Major scripted shows delivering

After something of a quiet period for French scripted projects, ambitious new series are being delivered for the upcoming broadcast season, with many promoted at the Rendez-vous.

Wild Bunch organised a screening in Le Havre for period miniseries The Red And The Black, for which the company reports strong interest because of the IP, while France Télévisions Distribution screened thriller Swapped.

Distributors reported that international buyers are currently either looking for light, crime procedural ‘comfort’ series from France, or strong IPs - preferably cast-driven titles. Darker, edgier series are more difficult, with streamers no longer being major buyers or commissioning their own.

Mediawan was in Le Havre launching TF1 series The Target (aka La Cible), starring familiar face Tomer Sisley, with the show debuting on Monday to nearly 4 million overnight linear viewers. It is catching buyers’ interest “because it is a true family action thriller and there are not so many on the market,” said Ulrich Lagriffoul, deputy head of international sales for scripted.

He added that more big deals are currently in negotiation around Mediawan’s strong IP-based hit, The Count of Monte-Cristo, produced for Rai and France Télévisions, which has sold to pubcasters across Europe and to PBS Masterpiece in the US. (As a minority French co-production, the title does not factor into the 2025 French export figures).

Federation was promoting another IP-based title, Lucky Luke, which premiered in March on Disney+ France and EMEA ahead of France Télévisions, and this summer sold to Radio Canada alongside the company’s hit light crime series, Deadly Tropics. Co-head of distribution, Guillaume Pommier, reported strong interest in a Tour de France scripted project that Federation is looking to pre-fund, noting that many broadcasters air the event.

He said that in the current market, Federation is also very active in selling remakes. Alongside the flagship example of The Bureau, others include a TF1 primetime school drama featuring a group of disabled teenagers, One of Us, which is currently being adapted in Italy for Rai.

The tougher market is not preventing new players from entering the scripted game. At Rendez-vous, M6’s movie subsidiary SND highlighted its first two ambitious, six-part dramas as a distributor - both third-party pick-ups. Head of international TV series and library sales, Alexis Reybet-Degat, explained that SND has decided to start producing drama, so the distribution move came naturally.

He reported that talks are underway for aircraft carrier drama R91, a flagship M6 launch for this season, which also has Prime Video in France onboard and won a Séries Mania buyers’ award. Ahead of Rendez-Vous, the company also picked up the Bérénice Bejo-starring ambitious miniseries Alice - about the first female director responsible for the first scripted film at the very beginning of the silent era.

The fact that both a broadcaster and a streamer are involved brings added value - Reybet-Degat described it as a “quality guarantee”. This was confirmed by Film & Picture’s Marie-Laure Hébrard, who is launching Arte’s four-part The Nefertiti Case, which has HBO Max France on board. 

Docs and ‘curiosity around AI’

Among documentaries screening at Rendez-vous was Balanga’s AI show Beasts of the Colosseum, an ancient history film about hunting wild animals to stage fights in ancient Rome. AI makes up about 50% of the show, illustrating insights from real experts.

“There is a lot of curiosity around AI because of the recreations it enables us to do, and therefore the stories it enables us to tell in ancient history,” said Balanga’s Christophe Bochnacki, who has already sold the doc to ZDF/Terra X, SVT, and Radio Canada.

Another documentary distributor noted, however, that these generative AI docs can become outdated quickly as the technology evolves so fast. 

Overall, doc players reported being especially affected by the market slowdown. Interestingly, in a recent strategic move, Federation stepped away from the genre as a distributor, partnering last spring with Incognita Distribution - headed by former ZED and Newen executive Chloé Persyn-Preljocaj.

It now distributes IP from Federation subsidiaries Bonne Pioche and Lucky You, in addition to Compagnie des Phares & Balises, Caméras Lucinda, and Incognita Docs. “Big generalist catalogues are no longer a thing,” says Federation’s Pommier.

“We are learning to work differently. We have started, for instance, exploring VoD more, dubbing some back-catalogue titles, and making deals with YouTube aggregators,” said Anne Littardi, head of boutique documentary distributor Beliane. “This diversifies our revenues, even though it doesn’t make up for TV sales; but this is back catalogue.”

Commission decline & streamer pacts

Distributors, especially in scripted, also expressed other worries during their time in Le Havre.

One was the impact of fewer commissions at the major French terrestrial channels, meaning fewer shows to pick up and concerns around overbidding at a time when they need to be more prudent than ever in terms of minimum guarantees.

Another concern was the strategies being developed by broadcasters to increase their reach with streaming platforms - notably the TF1-Netflix deal - and the fact that such deals are now spreading elsewhere.

Distributors reported that they are starting to feel the effect, with the second French window becoming more difficult to sell. “When we invest a minimum guarantee, with international sales a bit uncertain, it is important for us to be able to count on a second French window sale,” explained Emmanuelle Guilbart of APC, who is also president of the distributors’ union SEDPA.

She also noted the issue of Arte developing its European platform, therefore requiring more rights across both Eastern and Western Europe, incuding in “some markets that are our prime buyers,” she said.”Broadcasters are looking to adapt as best they can, but the strategies they are developing are threatening the exploitation of rights.”

As a distributor, APC has diversified into its first light crime French procedural to answer market needs, and was presenting a new TF1 series with Country Spy (Marie-Line, Incognito).

“The heart of the business, however, is still here,” concluded Beliane’s Littardi. ”And this year’s Rendez-vous event, which takes place ahead of Mipcom, is even more strategic for us.”