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A co-production is a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
between two or more different
production companies
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, an ...
for the purpose of
film production
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...
,
television production
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
,
video game development
Video game development (or gamedev) is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC ...
, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companies from different countries (typically two to three) are working together.
Co-production also refers to the way services are produced by their users, in some parts or entirely.
History and benefits
The journalist
Mark Lawson identifies the first use of the term, in the context of radio production, in 1941, although the programme to which he refers, ''
Children Calling Home
''Children Calling Home'' was an English-language radio programme, with the first episode on Christmas Day, 25 December 1940 as a collaboration between the United Kingdom's BBC's Home Service, CBC of Canada, and NBC of the United States, and br ...
'', "Presented in collaboration between the CBC of Canada, NBC of the U.S.A., and the BBC, and broadcast simultaneously in all three countries", was first broadcast in December 1940.
Following the Second World War, US film companies were forbidden by the
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
to take their film profits in the form of
foreign exchange
The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...
out of European countries. As a result, several film companies started studios and production companies in nations such as the United Kingdom and Italy to use their "frozen funds".
To use these profits in England, film companies would set up production companies using the required amount of British film technicians and actors to qualify as British Productions in order to take advantage of the
Eady Levy
The Eady Levy was a tax on box-office receipts in the United Kingdom, intended to support the British film industry. It was introduced in 1950 as a voluntary levy as part of the Eady plan, named after Sir Wilfred Eady, a Treasury official. The lev ...
.
At the same time, US citizens working outside the country for 510 days during a period of 18 months would not be taxed on their earnings by the
Internal Revenue Service. Though this scheme was developed for the aid of American humanitarian workers redeveloping nations destroyed in World War II, agents discovered that Hollywood actors, directors, and screenwriters would qualify for the tax break by working outside the US for the same period.
International film co-production was very common in the 50s, 60s and 70s between Italian, Spanish and French production companies, as exemplified by most of the
Spaghetti-western and
sword and sandal
Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (pepla plural), is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or Biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budge ...
movies being Spanish-Italian co-productions, typically directed by an Italian, played fifty-fifty by Spanish and Italian actors and shot in southern Spain landscapes. Due to the worldwide popularity of Hollywood stars they would be used to guarantee a respectable audience around the world as well as the United States. The relatively low production costs and high box office return of these films often led to direct Hollywood investment to the non-US studios and producers such as
Dino DeLaurentis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian-American film producer. Along with Carlo Ponti, he was one of the producers who brought Italian cinema to the international scene at the end of World War II. He ...
. An example of such pan-European co-productions was ''
Treasure Island
''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...
'' (1972), a British-French-German-Italian-Spanish film, starring US
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
.
To qualify as an Italian film a film needed either an Italian director or cameraman plus at least two Italian featured players and an Italian film laboratory to process the film. Actor and director
Mel Welles
Mel Welles (February 17, 1924 – August 19, 2005) was an American film actor and director. His best-remembered role may be that of hapless flower shop owner Gravis Mushnick in the 1960 low-budget Roger Corman dark comedy, ''The Little Shop of ...
recalled that in the 1960s and 1970s the government of Spain would give producers funds based on the budget of the film whilst Italy would give producers funds based on the box office results of the film, however the government could interfere with production if they chose to
The first European nations to sign a film co-production agreement were France and Italy in 1949. Between 1949 and 1964 711 films were co-produced between the two nations.
Due to the expense of filmmaking, many films made outside the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
are international co-productions. For example, ''
Amélie
''Amélie'' (also known as ''Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain''; ; en, The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, italic=yes) is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume La ...
'' is set in France and stars French actors, but many scenes were shot in a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
film studio and the
post-production
Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments.
The ...
work was undertaken by a German film company. International co-productions open new markets for films and television programs and can increase the output of high quality productions through the sharing of equity investment.
Official co-productions are made possible by agreements between countries. Co-production agreements seek to achieve economic, cultural and diplomatic goals. For filmmakers, the key attraction of a treaty co-production is that it qualifies as a national production in each of the partner nations and can access benefits that are available to the local film and television industry in each country. Benefits may include government financial assistance, tax concessions and inclusion in domestic television broadcast quotas. International co-productions also occur outside the framework of official co-productions, for example with countries that do not have an agreement in place, or projects that do not satisfy official co-production criteria.
Dialogue director
Mickey Knox
Abraham Knox (December 24, 1921 − November 15, 2013) was an American actor with nearly 80 films to his credit. Knox was also a screenwriter, film producer, and novelist. Knox was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, and he subsequently moved to ...
recalled that in order to bring in American dollars and British pounds many countries behind the former
Iron Curtain offered producers lucrative deals. In exchange for a share of the profits or an outright payment the host country would pick up most of the local charges; with the film often credited as a co-production.
In many cases, co-productions are a response to the challenges of internationalisation by countries with small production sectors, as they seek to maintain a viable production industry and produce culturally-specific content for national audiences. However, these dual goals also produce tensions within national film and television sectors. Although a co-production agreement may make available more resources, an international production risks being less relevant to its target audiences than purely local productions.
Classifications of co-production
Renaud and Litman developed the terms “co-production strategy” and “international co-production.” The first is based on the US experience in the late 1970s and early 1980s where its film companies had minimized foreign input while preferring in-house production or coproducing films with domestic companies. Here, the term “international co-production” is used to highlight the fact that these US companies have worked with foreign companies as a way to address specific
needs.
Baltruschat introduces the concepts, “official” and “non-official” co-productions which can be distinguished by whether or not there is a formal inter-government agreement.
Benefits of international co-production
As a response to internationalisation, co-production offers both benefits and drawbacks. A 1996 survey of
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
international and domestic joint ventures identified the benefits as:
* the ability to pool financial resources;
* access to the partner government's incentives and subsidies;
* access to the partner's market, or to a third market;
* access to a particular project initiated by the partner;
* access to a desired location; or to cheaper inputs;
* cultural benefits; and
* the opportunity to learn from the partner.
Costs of international co-production
Debate concerning international co-productions centres on the potential for productions to have little cultural specificity in any of its home countries. Internationalisation brings tensions in terms of cost, benefit and opportunity. In
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, for example, O'Regan and Ward have argued that an influx of international productions to
Queensland's Gold Coast in the 1990s presented a distinct challenge to local producers. In the face of such challenges, local producers need to learn "how to internationalise local film and television production in order to retain and hopefully build market shares; and how to develop new models of financing that combine both local and foreign sources." One approach has been to reconcile this tension by creating "local production with an explicit international orientation." But not everyone agrees this is the best approach. For example, the idea that Australia should produce more 'deterritorialised' programming such as fantasy and science fiction has been met with disquiet in some sections of the industry.
In
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, some have suggested that a narrow definition of 'local content' has restricted Australia's ability to engage with international partners.
Julia Hammett-Jamart
Julia Hammett-Jamart is a scholar and filmmaker. She forged her career in the Australian film industry, working firstly in film and television production, where she directed and produced projects for national broadcast, before expanding her pro ...
reflects on the different approaches taken by
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
to this issue and argues that a literal-minded definition of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n culture has been 'antagonistic to the collaborative nature of film production, and in particular international co-production'.
The
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
study found evidence that, for television projects, domestic joint ventures performed better than international joint ventures. However, in the case of larger budget projects, domestic joint ventures were found not to be a viable alternative to international joint ventures. In their later study of co-production in Australia, the authors identified financial pooling as the most important benefit and increased co-ordination costs as the greatest drawback. This suggests that co-production is more suited to larger budget productions, primarily film, which have greater capital needs but do not carry the same dollar-for-dollar coordination costs as smaller projects.
Government bodies are keenly aware of these concerns. A review of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n co-production rules acknowledged the tensions between cultural and economic objectives, and argues that 'requiring the program's aims to be predominantly economic or cultural would hobble the program and reduce its effectiveness in achieving either outcome'.
[DCITA (Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) in collaboration with the AFC (Australian Film Commission). 2001. Review of the Australian Official Coproduction Program.]
Notes
Film and video terminology
Film production
Cultural exchange