American streaming giant Netflix announced on Wednesday the signing of an agreement with Montreal company Attraction to produce French-language films.
The First Look Art Agreement grants Netflix a right of first refusal on upcoming Attraction feature films in exchange for financial compensation. “It’s an agreement that American studios often use to ensure they have priority over the projects a production house is developing,” explains Richard Speer, president of Attraction.
The idea was to find another way to finance our feature films outside of the institutions we know, such as Telefilm Canada and SODEC, even if the projects rejected by Netflix could eventually turn to these traditional institutions for financing.
This is the first-ever agreement of its kind in Canada for Netflix. This alliance will help advance Quebec content on a global scale with a renowned partner.
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Richard Speer is president of Attraction, a company he founded in 2002.
Photo: Attraction website
The Secret of Caramilk on Netflix
In case the intricacies of the agreement are not yet known, Netflix has already started giving the Attraction team some information about the ingredients they would like to see in their productions.
They shared with us some of the things they look for, their “Caramilk Secret.” “This is the information we work with when finding the right projects for them,” explains the president of the Montreal company.
Although we are talking about stages that are a little further away, I would say that the focus is more on the local. To use an English expression: “global is local”. This explains the success that Korea and other countries have had recently.
[Netflix] wants us to make films that speak to the people here and represent Quebec culture. Their platform is strong enough to carry them almost anywhere.
The president of Attraction did not comment on the economic aspect of the agreement between the two companies, contenting himself with asserting that the financial parameters are interesting. On the financial side there are no real reserves, but budgets always reflect the local market […] In English Canada, for example, budgets are higher than in Quebec, he said.
No film plans have been announced by the new partners yet, but Richard Speer hopes to make announcements soon. The collaboration is established and started, I think we will be able to announce something pretty quickly […]. That would make me happy as quickly as possible.
With information from Catherine Richer, culture columnist for the show Le 15-18.