Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos used the Paris premiere of “Call My Agent! The Movie” to underscore the streamer’s importance to France’s entertainment industry amid a regulatory battle over the country’s investment obligations and release window.
“We’re not just like an outsider being in France. We are vital to the entertainment community here in our investment, both the $250 million that we spend in series and film, but also $50 million in French cinema. So we’ve been very supportive of the system and we have a great relationship with the government here,” Sarandos told Variety on the TV line ahead of the screening at Paris’ Olympia Theater, where the Cesar Awards take place every year.
Sarandos was fresh from Saint-Paul-de-Vence, where he attended the Lumière Summit co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
Netflix, Amazon and Disney have recently appealed to the Council of State, France’s highest court, over new sub-quota requirements. Netflix’s Pauline Dauvin has also penned an op-ed arguing that French investment obligations were becoming too rigid and detrimental to the platform’s editorial freedom. Netflix and Amazon have also separately lodged appeals to the Council of State over the 17-month release window for newly released movies.
Asked if he was hopeful about the outcome of the appeals, Sarandos said, “We have ongoing conversations with the government.”
Sarandos, who posed for photos with the ensemble cast, including Camille Cottin, Laure Calamy, Fanny Sidney, Grégory Montel, Liliane Rovère, Nicolas Maury and Thibault de Montalembert at the Paris event, also admitted he had a soft spot for “Call My Agent!” He described the show as “very unique and uniquely French,” although he suggested its depiction of the French film business bore little resemblance to his own experience navigating the industry.
“I think this is a very fun version of them, more than it is a documentary,” he joked. France’s strict windowing rules are the reason why Netflix hasn’t attended Cannes since 2017, but Sarandos said it might make a comeback on the Croisette for the festival’s 80th edition.
Mediawan boss Pierre-Antoine Capton, who joined Sarandos to introduce the movie on stage, thanked the streamer for greenlighting the “Call My Agent!” film in record time.
“The first time I called Pauline Dauvin (Netflix France chief) to tell her we wanted to make a ‘Call My Agent’ movie, she said yes right away. And thanks to Netflix’s investment in France — and its support for creative projects — we’re now able to bring you this exceptional adventure,” Capton said.
While France Télévisions was the initial commissioner for “Call My Agent!,” the series became a worldwide hit after Netflix started streaming it and “took it from local to global,” said Capton, noting that it is now broadcast in more than 130 countries and has been adapted in a dozen territories. There is also a spinoff show set at a sports agency that Brad Pitt’s Plan B, a Mediawan company, is developing with LeBron James’ SpringHill for HBO.
Picking up five years after the bittersweet finale of the series, which saw A.S.K. go under, the film follows agent-turned-filmmaker Andréa Martel (Cottin) as she loses her leading actor, Laurent Lafitte, a few days before production begins on her directorial debut. She embarks on a wild ride — peppered with hilarious situations and dialogue — to rescue her project with the unexpected help of her old team, while juggling custody issues with her ex-girlfriend, with whom she shares a daughter. Vincent Macaigne and Laetitia Casta play fictional versions of themselves as former lovers whose relationship ended on a sour note. The film also boasts some fun Hollywood cameos, with George Clooney and Eva Longoria.
Cottin, who has become one of France’s most bankable actors and has worked with Ridley Scott (“House of Gucci”) and Tom McCarthy (“Stillwater”) in recent years, said the show has continued to exist in people’s minds even though it ended five years ago.
“People would talk to us about it, they kept calling us by our characters’ names. So we were happy to bring those characters back to life, to reunite, and happy to work with Fanny’s writing again — which is truly unmatched,” she said on stage, standing with the rest of the cast.
Capton also hinted the movie might have a sequel as he wrapped his speech. “This isn’t the end of ‘Call My Agent!’ It’s just the beginning of a new adventure,” he said.
The film is produced by Mediawan-owned Mon Voisin Productions and Mother Production, with the participation of French broadcaster France Télévisions.