Netflix Puts Up €1 Million for French Film & TV Relief Fund

Netflix has aligned with Audiens, the social protection group of the French cultural sector, in agreement with the Minister of Culture represented by the CNC, for the creation of a new COVID-19 Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund.

Netflix will donate €1 million to Audiens to help launch the fund, which is meant to help the hardest-hit workers in the television and cinema industry impacted by production shutdowns from the coronavirus crisis across all of France.

The grant is available to the most vulnerable freelancers in the audiovisual and movie sectors, who live project to project—including carpenters, electricians, and hair and make-up artists—and cannot work due to the near-global production shutdown.

Damien Couvreur, director of original series at Netflix, said: “We’re grateful to be able to work with Audiens to support the hardest-hit workers in TV and film production, who are a part of the internationally admired french creative industry. In addition to the support we give to the crews, casts and technical partners involved in our productions, we also want to help those who most need financial assistance in the sector more broadly, especially freelancers hit by the current crisis.”

Isabelle Thirion, social development director at Groupe Audiens, added: “The funds will help us maintain emergency support we have put in place for the most fragile workers from the cultural industries, in addition to our usual activities. One of Audiens’ core values is solidarity, and we want to thank Netflix for contributing to support freelancers from TV and cinema industries in these difficult times for the media and culture at large.”