Automatic Support
Distribution
Within the specific objective of promoting transnational circulation, one of the priorities of the MEDIA Sub-programme is the supporting theatrical distribution through transnational marketing, branding, distribution and exhibition of audiovisual works.
The MEDIA Sub-programme shall provide support for the establishing systems of support for the distribution of non-national European films through theatrical distribution and on all other platforms as well as for international sales activities, in particular the subtitling, dubbing and audio-description of audiovisual works.
The aim of the “Automatic Scheme” is to encourage and support the wider transnational distribution of recent European films by providing funds to distributors, based upon their performance on the market, for further reinvestment in the promotion and distribution (including on-line) of new non-national European films.
The scheme also aims to encourage the development of links between the production and distribution sectors thus improving the competitive position of non-national European films and the competitiveness of European companies.
Eligible Applicants
The applicant shall be a European Cinema/Theatrical distribution company.
European company is owned, whether directly or by majority participation (i.e. majority of shares), by nationals of Member States of the European Union or nationals of the other European countries participating in the MEDIA Sub-programme and registered in one of these countries.
A cinema / theatrical distributor is involved in commercial activity designed to bring to the attention of a wide audience a film for the purpose of exploitation in cinema theatres. This shall be the principal activity of the company or division of the company. Such activity may include aspects of the technical publishing of an audiovisual work (dubbing and subtitling, striking of prints, circulation of prints, etc.) as well as marketing and promotional activities (production of trailers and publicity material, the purchase of advertising space, the organisation of promotional events etc.).
Digital distribution is supported as long as it is of a minimum quality (=1.3 K). This excludes DVD, DVIX, Digital Beta or any other support whose resolution is below 1.3K as a copy or source of the films for theatrical release.
A cinema / theatrical distributor shall fulfil the following criteria:
- be the holder of the theatrical distribution rights for the film in the country concerned;
- carry out the theatrical distribution of the film in the country (determines the release date, plans, controls and executes the distribution and promotion campaign);
- pay directly the associated distribution costs; and
- be registered and have theatrical distribution operations in the country for which a grant is requested
Eligible Activities
The Automatic support scheme works in two phases:
- The generation of a potential fund, proportional to the number of paying admission tickets sold during the reference period for non-national European films in countries participating in the MEDIA Sub-programme, up to a fixed ceiling per film and adjusted for each country.
- Reinvestment: the potential fund thus generated by each company must be reinvested in:
- the co-production of eligible non-national European films;
- the acquisition of distribution rights, for example by means of minimum guarantees, of eligible non-national European films; and/or in
- the release of eligible non-national European films.
To generate the potential fund and to qualify for reinvestment measures, the film must comply with the following criteria:
- it must be a work of fiction (including animated films) or documentary, with a minimum duration of 60 minutes.it must have its first copyright established in 2015 at the earliest.
- it must not consist of alternative content (operas, concerts, performances, etc.), advertising, pornographic or racist material or advocate violence.
- it must be majority produced by a producer or producers established in the countries participating in the MEDIA Sub-programme. To be considered as the actual producers the production companies must be credited as such. Other elements such as copyright appearing on the rolling credits, creative control, ownership of exploitation rights and share of profits may also be taken into account to determine who the actual producer is.
- it must be produced with the significant participation of professionals who are nationals/residents of countries participating in the MEDIA Sub-programme. ‘Significant participation’ is defined as having more than 50% of the points on the basis of the table presented in the Guidelines.
If the film has an interoperable standard identifier, such as ISAN or EIDR, it must be indicated in the eReport.
National / Non-national European film:
European films will be considered as “national” in the country participating in the MEDIA Sub-programme whose nationals/residents have participated in the highest proportion in the making of the film, on the basis of the points table shown above. This country is considered as the country of origin of the film for the purpose of the scheme. They will be considered as “non-national” outside the country of origin.
To be eligible, admissions must comply with the following criteria:
- they must be achieved between 1st January and 31st December 2018;
- a normal ticket price was actually paid to the relevant exhibitor (including any special offers or discounts) but explicitly excluding those admissions where no fee was paid;
- they must be clearly identifiable and certified by the national correspondents designated by the Member States;
- they must be declared by applicants who are eligible in the country;
- the films must be eligible non-national European films.
- Group or club screenings where an individual ticket price is not levied will not be eligible.
The paid admissions achieved by a film already supported by the MEDIA sub-Programme are eligible.
Budget
The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at EUR 24,35M. This budget is subject to the availability of the funds after the adoption of the budget and the Work Programme for 2020 by the budgetary authority.
A potential fund will be attributed to eligible European distribution companies on the basis of the eligible admissions achieved by the European non-national films distributed by the applicant in the reference year as set out in the call for proposals.
The support will take the form of a potential fund available to distributors for further investments in eligible non-national European films.
Within the limit of the budgetary resources available, the potential fund available for each distributor will be calculated on the following basis:
- Eligible admissions generated by eligible non-national European films up to a limit fixed per film and per country.
This limit can be reached in one or more years but in any case all paid admissions over the maximum threshold for an individual film shall not be eligible
