Netflix has opened a new French headquarters in Paris which will be home to 40 employees.

Netflix will also significantly increase its investment in France with 20 new French productions, and partnerships with leading French creative institutions.

"It is a real honour to be in France, with its rich culture and history of storytelling. This office is a sign of our long-term commitment to the country, and will enable us to work even more closely with the French creative community on great shows and films that are made in France and watched all around the world”, said Reed Hastings, Founding Chairman and CEO of Netflix.

Netflix has, since launching in France in 2014, developed 24 French titles, including 6 films, 9 series, 5 stand-up shows, 3 documentaries and 1 unscripted series including horror and YA sci-fi series Marianne and Mortel, comedies Plan coeur and Family Business, the film Banlieusards, and documentary series Grégory.

New shows on the slate include BigBug, the new film by César Award Winner Jean-Pierre Jeunet, based on a script written by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant — a comedy set in the future with a cast including César Award Winner Elsa Zylberstein, César Award Nominee Isabelle Nanty, and Manu Payet.

Screenwriter Fanny Herrero is developing a 6-part series following the lives of four young comedians trying to make it in the Paris stand-up scene. Also on the slate is the renewal (Season 2) of the original YA Sci-fi series Mortel, created by Frederic Garcia and Sentinelle, an action-packed film starring Olga Kurylenko, directed by Julien Leclercq (Braqueurs and La Terre et le Sang).

“We are incredibly proud of the productions we’re currently filming, the ones we are developing and the ones we’ve unveiled today. The establishment of a new French creative hub brings new opportunities for us to work with the best and most exciting creative talent in France and to bring diverse genres and content to everyone who loves French storytelling,” added Damien Couvreur, Netflix’s Director of Series in France.

Netflix also announced a series of partnerships with major French creative institutions. Those partnerships include strengthening Netflix’s existing partnership with La Fémis by supporting their ‘Residency’ programme, an 11-month full-time training course that helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds get into film and TV; 1000 visages, an association founded in 2006 by Houda Benyamina, which provides a number of training programmes in film and promotes access to jobs within the creative industries. Netflix will become the main partner in the programme dedicated to series’ screenwriting, to be launched in January 2020. Houda Benyamina is also the director of two episodes of The Eddy. Since 2019, Netflix has partnered with GOBELINS L’École de l’Image, giving one graduate every year the opportunity to work alongside Netflix’s animation experts in Japan. In addition, Netflix will now contribute to Gobelins’ training program by funding four-year scholarships for five students as part of their Master of Arts in "Character Animation and Animated Filmmaking".

Staff Reporter

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