European Film Industry Speaks Out Against MEDIA Program Overhaul

European trade organizations representing the full film industry sector spectrum are up in arms against the EU Commission’s plans to make major changes to its Creative Europe funding program by combining its culture and media strands under the so-called AgoraEU initiative.

As the deadline looms for the new 2028-2034 financial framework to be implemented in Brussels, the orgs — which comprise the European Producers Club, Europa Distribution and arthouse cinemas org Cicae — issued a joint statement on Monday “urging the European Parliament” and member states “to preserve the identity and the core objectives of the Creative Europe — MEDIA program” and to reinforce its impact on the entire film value chain and ensure that the “intrinsic and artistic value of culture” remain “at the heart of the program.”

One crucial bone of contention is that under the planned overhaul, the budget of the MEDIA program —  which supports EU film-TV-videogame development, distribution, training and promotion — would most likely shrink from its current €2.44 billion ($2.8 billion) for 2021-2027 to a total €3.2 billion ($3.7 billion) sum that in 2028-2034 would be allocated to the new MEDIA+ program covering film, TV and video games on the one hand, but also going to the news media sector. This blurs the boundaries and risks jeopardizing some of the film and audiovisual industry support.

The EU funding overhaul proposal refers generically to “media” bunching together film, TV, video games and also the news, immersive reality and multimedia industries, the trade organizations complained.

“The word ‘film’ should be reintroduced, to clearly distinguish the film and audiovisual sector from the broader media sector and avoid confusion that could undermine the specificities and independence of each sector,” they said.

Creative Europe’s MEDIA Program has been a crucial EU film and TV industry driver for the past 35 years.