Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO, to open new French headquarters in the heart of Paris — home to 40 employees and a space for the entire creative community. Netflix will significantly increase its investment in France — with 20 new French productions, and partnerships with leading French creative institutions.
Netflix celebrates the opening of its new Paris office in the heart of the 9th arrondissement. This new office reflects Netflix’s long-term commitment to France’s creative community, including over 20 French productions in 2020.
Netflix’s French HQ: dedicated to the creative community
Located in the heart of Paris, the French HQ is Netflix’s fourth office in Europe. Netflix France currently employs 40 people, across films and series, partnerships and marketing.
“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.
French series and films for French people, showcasing local creativity in France and around the world
To reflect the diverse tastes of our members in France and our 158 million+ members around the world, 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.
2019 was a year of great success for original stories in France, with the horror and YA sci-fi series Marianne and Mortel, comedies Plan coeur and Family Business, the film Banlieusards, and Grégory, the documentary series about a case that touched France.
The French content executives today unveiled several original shows to be produced by Netflix over the coming years as well as a range of series and films made by production partners for Netflix. They 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.
Fanny Herrero, the hugely admired screenwriter, is developing a 6-part series following the lives of four young comedians trying to make it in the Paris stand-up scene.
The renewal (Season 2) of the original YA Sci-fi series Mortel, created by Frederic Garcia.
Sentinelle, an action-packed film starring Olga Kurylenko, directed by Julien Leclercq (Braqueurs and La Terre et le Sang).
This comes on the back of a range of original shows already announced for 2020:
Arsène Lupin, starring Omar Sy, and created by George Kay in collaboration with François Uzan. The first three episodes will be directed by Louis Leterrier.
La Révolution, a historical thriller series created by Aurélien Molas.
The Eddy, Damien Chazelle’s series created by Jack Thorne, that reunites Leïla Bekhti and Tahar Rahim.
Vampires, starring Oulaya Amamra and Suzanne Clément, and created by Benjamin Dupas and Isaure Pisani-Ferry.
Two documentaries, one about Nicolas Anelka, developed by Franck Nataf, and the other featuring Maître Gims, directed by Florent Bodin.
“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.
Betting on the creative talent of tomorrow and promoting diversity in all its forms
Netflix also today announces a series of partnerships with major French creative institutions, to support new voices and to increase diversity within the creative community. 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 the visual arts 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”.