News

The zombie movie is as popular as ever right now, thanks to Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's 28 Years Later, albeit with the franchise not technically featuring any zombies. With this in mind, many are finishing their watch of the first of an upcoming trilogy, and looking into the streaming archives for some more undead, brain-eating fun. In doing so, it seems some are stumbling across a forgotten zombie comedy from ten years ago, that stars both The Office's Rainn Wilson and The Lord of the Rings icon, Elijah Wood.

Joined in the cast by The Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell, Alison Pill, and more, Wood's Cooties is a movie many may not have heard of, but are finally starting to pay attention to just shy of a decade after its initial release. As of July 2, the movie is one of the top 10 most-streamed movies on Tubi in the US,...

Last week, I was lamenting about the state of Christmas movies after watching The Merry Gentlemen, and between then and now, 10 more Xmas-themed films have been released across various streaming platforms, and all of them have been pretty bad. One of them was inspired by the real-life romantic relationship between Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, so you can guess what we are dealing with. And the most surprising and dreadful thing is that we are still in the month of November. We haven’t even hit December. It’s still hot outside. Hence, I am not shivering because of the temperature; it’s the fear that holiday season-centric films are going to get much worse than they are right now that’s making me quiver in my boots. That’s why, despite being an atheist, I started praying to the movie gods to give me a glimmer of hope by...

Chris Rock has been entertaining audiences for decades, but some of his movies and TV shows stand apart from the rest in terms of quality and popularity. Though he began as a stand-up comic in the 80s, Rock was quickly ushered into the realms of film and television as an actor and several of Chris Rock movies have been quite notable, as well as his TV projects. His career on both the stand-up stage and on the screen has been long and successful and shows no signs of slowing down.

Though he has led a diverse career, Chris Rock is best known for his comedic work. His keen observation skills and undeniable charisma have helped him crush all of his roles; everything from Rock hosting the Oscars, to voicing an animated zebra. With Everybody Still Hates Chris, the animated sequel series to his beloved sitcom, Everybody Hates Chris, recently taking Comedy Central by storm,...

Emanating from their studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, The History of Bad Ideas sees hosts Jason, Jeff and Blake talk about all things geeky on their podcast. Whether it’s rumours of the latest comic book movies, debating who really is the worst villain of all time, discussing the latest comic issues or just wondering about life in general, you are sure to have a fun time with them! In theory.

If you haven’t listened to the show before – why not? – you can check out previous episodes of The History of Bad Ideas podcast on iTunes and look out for new episodes here on Nerdly each and every week…

Episode 556: Abracadabra versus Osmosis!

The Hobi gang is back in the studio this week and it must be a miracle as Jason is actually finished two television series in a week! The guys debate which Deadpool and Wolverine secondary character deserves a spin-off,...

Seriesly Berlin, a new series festival, has revealed the first topics and speakers of its two-day conference program. The conference will take place on Sept. 16 and 17 at Fotografiska Berlin.

Topics to be covered range from storytelling in the age of AI, genre as a Trojan horse and flawed female characters, to person as property, and literary and podcast adaptations.

The festival will also include screenings of new shows, which will be open to the public over three days, Sept. 16-18.

Eike Faecks, director of Seriesly Berlin, said: “The industry doesn’t need another cookie-cutter TV event. We want to build a community of diverse, bold talent and visionary decision-makers, bridging culture and commerce. Real talks. Fresh voices and formats. No Bs or algorithms dictating creativity.”

In her opening keynote, titled “Real Imagination,” creative consultant Tatjana Samopjan of Fractal Volcano in Stockholm will examine authentic, impactful storytelling.

The opening panel, “All Eyes on Me,...

Earthgang have released their new EP, Robophobia, via SinceThe80s/Dreamville. Stream it via Apple Music or Spotify below.

Robophobia features guest appearances from Snoop Dogg, Earthgang’s collective Spillage Village, and Tommy Newport. The new EP is the second installment in Olu and WowGr8’s Earthgang vs the Algorithm series, and includes the lead single, “Blacklight.”

In an Instagram post, the Atlanta duo described the project as “a sonic dive into a new terrain for Earthgang as they explore new soundscapes and topics on imperfections, connections, and projections within humanity’s relationship with each other and AI.”

Robophobia follows last year’s Rip Human Art, which featured the singles “Bobby Boucher” and “Die Today.” Read why the latter track was one of the best songs released in 2023.

Robophobia Artwork:

Robophobia Tracklist:

01. Intro

02. Blackight (feat. Spillage Village)

03. Put In Work (feat. Tommy Newport)

04. Osmosis

05. Perfect Fantasy (feat. Snoop Dogg)

Earthgang Drop...

Less than a year after launching, Pathé’s division dedicated to series is already firing up a flurry of premium projects that are equally as ambitious as its film output.

The first slate of Pathé’s TV arm boasts 12 series in different stages of development. These include two shows based on Alexandre Dumas’ literary classic “The Three Musketeers,” as well as adaptations of “Cyrano de Bergerac” and Joel Dicker’s bestseller “The Last Days of Our Fathers.”

The division is spearheaded by Aude Albano, a well-connected industry player who previously worked alongside Claude Chelli at Capa Drama, where she produced “Versailles,” “Osmosis” and “Marie Antoinette.”

“Our slate spans large-scale series that reflect Pathé’s DNA and the endeavor to expand our brand in the series world,” says Albano. She says the company is following similar guidelines to the film arm. “We’re pursuing high-end and event projects, so it can be historical costume series,...

When acclaimed supernatural series Les Revenants/The Returned aired on Canal+ in 2012, it emerged into a fairly barren landscape for French-language scripted TV drama. The story of a remote mountain town whose dead are mysteriously revived, its stylish, cinematic look and philosophical, grown-up approach to genre television had little precedent. While the French ‘polar’ or detective series had long been a television staple, France had almost no tradition of sci-fi, horror and fantasy TV shows – or at least, none taken seriously by its understandably cinephile-and-proud cultural gatekeepers.

In the last five years, coinciding with the global growth of scripted TV drama, that’s all changed. Crime thrillers still wear the crown, but alongside them, France and Belgium are producing and exporting more continuing television dramas and miniseries than ever. From Black Mirror-ish future-set Osmosis and consciousness-swapping Transfers, to cool Parisian teen Vampires and creepy horror Marianne, scripted French-language genre television is exploding.

In the wake of the unleashed 'Covid-19' pandemic virus plague, film studios have canceled a slew of TV series, including shows from Netflix, Hulu, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, A&e, USA, Pop TV, Starz, CBS All Access, History, Paramount, Syfy, Showtime, Facebook Watch and Freeform:

Canceled Series

Lost in Space (Netflix)

Turn Up Charlie (Netflix)

Osmosis (Netflix)

Mortel (Netflix)

Astronomy Club: The Sketch Show (Netflix)

Marianne (Netflix)

Soundtrack (Netflix)

Spinning Out (Netflix)

Aj and the Queen (Netflix)

Messiah (Netflix)

V Wars (Netflix)

October Faction (Netflix)

Next in Fashion (Netflix)

Cops (Paramount)

Live Pd (A&E)

Tell Me a Story (CBS All Access)

Project Blue Book (History)

Knightfall (History)

The Purge (USA)

Treadstone (USA)

Dare Me (USA)

The Magicians (Syfy)

Vagrant Queen (Syfy)

Reprisal (Hulu)

Harlots (Hulu)

Emergence (ABC)

Single Parents (ABC)

Schooled (ABC)

Bless This Mess (ABC)

Kids Say the Darndest Things (ABC)

Broke (CBS)

Carol's Second Act (CBS)

God Friended Me...

HBO Max is out with its list of everything coming and going from the new streaming service, and the list includes the 2019 film “Harriet” starring Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman.

The HBO Originals coming next month include season four of “Room 104,” HBO Europe’s “Foodie Love,” and documentaries like “Stockton on My Mind” and “Showbiz Kids.” Other films joining include “Motherless Brooklyn,” “Midway,” and “Last Christmas.”

Leaving at the end of the month are “Aquamarine,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Long Shot,” “Crimson Peak,” “The Sun Is Also a Star” and “X-Men.”

Also Read: iHeartMedia, WarnerMedia to Co-Produce Companion Podcasts for HBO Max Shows

Here is the full list of everything new and leaving in July:

July 1

Absolute Power, 1997

The Adventures of Pinocchio, 1996

The Amazing Panda Adventure, 1995

American Graffiti, 1973 (HBO)

American History X, 1998

Angels in the Outfield, 1951

Angus, 1995

August Rush, 2007

The Bachelor, 1999

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, 1998

Batman and Harley Quinn , 2017

Batman vs.

It is one of Williams’s first roles since Game Of Thrones came to an end last year.

Screen can reveal the first look at Game Of Thrones star Maisie Williams in horror-thriller The Owners.

Paris-based sales company Versatile is market premiering the feature at the European Film Market this week.

French director Julius Berg’s English-language horror thriller The Owners revolves around a burglary that takes a violent turn when the elderly inhabitants turn the tables on the young intruders. It is adapted from the graphic novel Une Nuit De Pleine Lune by Belgian artist Hermann and writer Yves...

Madrid — Giant network TF1, pubcaster France Televisions, upscale channel Arte France, free-to-air network M6 and European TV-film force Studiocanal, owned by Vivendi’s Canal Plus Group, are among companies confirmed for June’s Conecta Fiction in Spain, where France has been chosen as its European Country Focus.

A much appreciated Europe-Latin America production forum and networking event, which allows companies far more time to meet, great and plan than May’s L.A. Screenings, the 4th Conecta Fiction will unspool for the second year running in Pamplona, northern Spain, over June 22-25, at the Baluarte Palace of Congress.

These combines will be joined by Mediawan Originals, Orange Studio, Lagardère Studios, Federation Entertainment, Elephant International, Banijay Group, Gaumont, Wild Horses Group and Newen, all companies with large ambitions in international: Banijay paid $2.2 billion last October to acquire the Endemol Shine Group.

The initiative is also backed by the might of French institutions,...

Netflix is getting ready to officially launch its swanky Paris office on Jan. 17. The streaming giant has planned an afternoon of discussions that gather together Netflix executives, including the company’s co-founder, chairman and CEO Reed Hastings, as well as the filmmakers and producers who have worked with Netflix.

As previously announced, the French outpost won’t be dedicated to production as in Spain, where Netflix bowed its first European production hub, but it will be staffed with executives working across several fields, including production, acquisition, and marketing. The 27,000-square-foot office will spread over three floors and will be located in the heart of Paris, in a chic and hip neighborhood in the city’s 9th arrondissement.

The panels on Jan. 17 include a roundtable bringing together the up-and-coming directors Julien Leclercq and Leïla Sy, as well as rapper-turned-actor Kery James, who will participate in a discussion with Sara May, the head of acquisitions at Netflix.

When Netflix bowed in France in late 2004, industry insiders predicted the U.S. streaming service would struggle to get access to local producers, talent and ultimately content, because of pre-existing relationships with French TV networks and the pay TV group Canal Plus.

Five years later, Netflix is about to launch a fully staffed office in Paris. It has also become one of the world’s biggest purveyors of French TV projects, not only through acquisitions but also with original series ranging from the political thriller “Marseille” to the romantic comedy “Plan Coeur,” and from the sci-fi drama “Osmosis” to the comedy “Family Business” and most recently the horror show “Marianne.” This year, Netflix also started collaborating with French broadcasters on ambitious big-budget shows, such as “The Bazar de la Charité” with TF1.

Boasting distribution deals with every French telco group — Orange, Bouygues, Free and Sfr — Netflix now has an estimated 6.5 million subscribers in France.

Snd, the commercial arm of French TV network M6, has acquired international sales rights to “Doubt” and “A Perfect Man,” a pair of four-part French thriller series, in the run-up to Mipcom.

“Doubt” was created by Sophie Lebarbier and Fanny Robert, the duo behind the hit French procedural series “Profiling.” Directed by Laure de Butler, “Doubt” revolves around a man who was just sentenced to 15 years in prison for a murder. The series follows one of the former jury members who starts having doubts about the man’s guilt after the verdict is given and hires a private detective.

Currently in post-production, “Doubt” stars Ophélia Kolb (“Call my agent”) and Stanley Weber (“Borgia”). It’s produced by Beaubourg Fiction, whose credits include “Profilage,” “Falco” and “Balthazar.”

“A Perfect Man,” meanwhile, follows the neighbor of a man suspected of having murdered his wife and children who is convinced of his innocence...

The Danish Netflix original drama “The Rain” has been renewed for a third season, which will also be the show’s last.

Netflix made the announcement in a tweet sent out Wednesday. The series is Netflix’s first Danish original series and takes place six years after a brutal virus carried by the rain wipes out almost all humans in Scandinavia. In the aftermath, two Danish siblings emerge from the safety of their bunker to find all remnants of civilization gone. Soon they join a group of young survivors and together set out on a quest through an abandoned Scandinavia, searching for any sign of life.

The first season launched in 2017 and consisted of eight episodes, while Season 2 launched last year and consisted of six episodes. The series was created by Jannik Tai Mosholt, Esben Toft Jacobsen, and Christian Potalivo. It stars Alba August, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen,...

Netflix is famously tight-lipped when it comes to revealing how many people are tuning in to its endless supply of movies and TV series, though the streaming giant does occasionally toot its own horn when one of its titles does especially well. Now the company is experimenting with a weekly list of its most-watched offerings in the UK, with nature docuseries “Our Planet” topping the first edition.

In a Twitter thread, the company announced that it will be releasing such lists on a weekly basis from here on out. To compile them, “we look at the most-watched individual season of a show, film or special (regardless of when it launched). ‘Watched’ means members finished at least 70% of one episode.”

“It’s a test as we want to make sure this information is useful for you,” Netflix added. “So we may tweak it in the weeks ahead. eg. we’re not including kids right now.

Spencer Mullen Apr 18, 2019

Sophie Turner, Epic Games, North Korea, and more in today's daily Link Tank!

A nutritionist has explained the link between eggs, cholestorol, and heart disease.

"The recent news that eating three to four eggs a week is linked to a slight increase in risk for developing heart disease was a bummer for egg lovers. Should you stop eating eggs because of this new finding? The study, published in March in the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined the association between dietary cholesterol or egg consumption with cardiovascular disease and all causes of mortality."

Read more at Inverse.

Sophie Turner has opened up on her struggle with depression and mental health.

"Growing up in the public eye cannot be easy. But one thing that’s important, especially for young fans of actors, is the open nature with which some are talking about their mental health. Sophie Turner,...

Cannes — The 2nd Canneseries festival ended Wednesday. Variety asks what this year’s second edition says about the current state of high-end drama series production.

1.Comedy Ruled, And Won

The 2nd Canneseries had no competition title with the profile of “Killing Eve,” its standout last year. A world premiere screened out of competition as the last series in the whole festival, where it met with some thunderous applause, “Years & Years,” a BBC-Canal Plus-HBO production showrun by U.K. industry heavyweight Russell T. Davies, does have that stature, and the potential to be one of the major drama series of 2019.

The Canneseries Competition ran a wide gamut – from genre (“Outbreak”) to drama (“Bauhaus”), drama-thrillers (“The Twelve”), near future low-fi (“The Feed”), dramedies and comedies, Canneseries artistic director Albin Levi pointed out.

As far as its competition goes, the festival’s major achievement this year was its bet on...

Madrid — Netflix’s “High Seas,” its fourth Spanish Original Series, produced by “Velvet’s” Bambú Producciones, initiated rehearsals in October. Netflix has yet to announce an exact release date this year.

But, following on “Cable Girls,” Netflix’s first Spanish original and another Bambú production, “Elite,” and “Money Heist” (“La casa de papel”), expectation is high. Variety visited the set in late January and interviewed Bambú founder and lead writer Ramón Campos. Following, five takes on the upcoming Netflix Original:

1.Mystery And, As Always, Melodrama

Created by Campos and Gemma R. Niera, “High Seas” (“Alta Mar”) is set in the late 1940s on a luxury transatlantic liner carrying passengers from Spain to Brazil. A murder is committed – of a woman passenger not on the passenger list and whom no one remembers. Only one thing seems certain: The murderer cannot leave the ship. With producer-partner Teresa Fernández-Valdés, Campos broke out internationally...

As it prepares to launch a fully staffed Paris office and beefs up its roster of French series and movies originals, Netflix commissioners Sara May, Damien Couvreur, Dominique Bazay and Diego Buñuel discussed the particularities of their development process and deal-making with the French industry, as well as their diversity-friendly approach, at Series Mania.

Although France has presented many challenges for Netflix because of its strict window release schedule (which sets the Svod window at 36 months) and protests from film bodies, the French market has now become one of the fastest-growing for the streaming service, which currently boasts more than 5 million subscribers locally.

Netflix has nearly 20 French originals in the pipeline. So far, it has delivered a couple films, including “Je ne suis pas un homme facile” and “Paris est à Nous,” and three series: political drama “Marseille,” with Gerard Depardieu; romantic comedy “Plan Coeur”; and the science-fiction series “Osmosis,...

Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos was in attendence to get the message over that Netflix is not the enemy.

Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos grabbed the headlines at TV festival Series Mania’s second Transatlantic Dialogues in the northern French city of Lille on Wednesday (March 27) when he declared he was not “a fan” of the streamer’s “disruptor” tag.

He was speaking in the opening session of the event aimed at fostering relations between the Us and European content industries and also featuring MPAA chief Charles Rivkin, TF1 Group CEO Gilles Pélisson and Amazon Studio’s director...

As it prepares to open a fully-staffed office in France and ramp up its investment in local originals, Netflix has unveiled three new documentaries, “Move” (working title), “Gims” (working title), and “Anelka” (working title), and the feature film “Of Earth And Blood” while at Series Mania in Lille.

Announced during a panel with Netflix’s commissioning team, the titles will be launching on Netflix from 2020 and will be available in over 190 countries for the streamers’s 139 million members worldwide.

A documentary series, “Move” portrays six contemporary dance choreographers from totally different backgrounds, ranging from the Spanish flamenco to the vertiginous gaga dance, and from Jamaïcan dancehall to American urban and contemporary dance. “‘Move’ will explore the choreographers’ personal histories, chaotic career paths, convictions and their translation into bodies, gestures, grace, sweat, boldness and determination,” said Netflix in a statement. “Move” is produced by Falabracks and Gaumont.

“Gims” is a documentary...

Lille, France — The series the audience was about to see on Sunday night at Lille’s central Ugc Cine-Cité multiplex wasn’t even playing in Series Mania’s main International Competition.

But in many ways, Netflix’s” “Osmosis” was certainly among the most-anticipated of shows at this year’s festival. The excitement before the screening was palpable, and pointed up multiple paradoxes about France’s current TV scene.

As a service, Netflix has taken France by storm. Launching in Sept, 2014, it has run up at least 5 million household subscriptions, as many as the retail subscriber base of pay TV Canal Plus, a pillar of France’s cultural establishment, which has been in service since 1985.

Released in May 2016, Netflix’s first sortie into French Original Series, “Marseilles,” a political corruption thriller starring Gerard Depardieu, proved polemical, being lambasted by many French critics, newspaper Le Monde dismissing it famously as “cowshit”, and director Julius Berg,...

This weekly feature is in addition to TVLine’s daily What to Watch listings.

With nearly 500 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable, streaming and whatever “Vrv” is, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.

This week, you’ll find a whopping 17 premieres (including Jane the Virgin and Into the Badlands), 11 finales (including the last-ever Broad City) and so much more.

Series Mania will present a starry tableau for its 10th anniversary, as it returns to Lille for the second time at the end of March. Ava DuVernay and Greg Berlanti’s CBS anthology series “The Red Line” is set to open the French TV festival, and Amazon’s “Hanna,” featuring “The Killing” stars Joel Kinnaman and Mireille Enos, will close. Ted Sarandos is giving a keynote at the industry arm of the festival, while Jordan Peele’s “The Twilight Zone” reboot will premiere two episodes, with actor Adam Scott delivering a masterclass after the screening. “Black Mirror” creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones; “The Good Doctor” star Freddie Highmore; and Uma Thurman, whose Netflix series “Chambers” is the only U.S. show in the 10-title competition, are also set to deliver masterclasses while in attendance.

It is no coincidence that these stars are flocking March 22-30 to northeast France.

“When...

Lille, France — Few festival heads are so ready to plunge into questions such as what their lineup suggests about contemporary drama series production as Series Mania’s director general Laurence Herszberg and Frédéric Lavigne. Series Mania was one of Europe’s first TV festivals to push drama series an art-form. Ten years later, it’s still a major focus of conversation with them. Variety chatted to both on the significance of this year’s lineup.

Do you see any trends in this year’s Series Mania selection?

Yes! There are emphases. Migrants and immigration is one major trend, which is interesting because it allow for multiple styles, to be approachedin a funny or dramatic way, or to focus on the lives of the people. It’s a worldwide concern, which is good. Then dystopia is also a major trend. We could say that this owes a lot to Charlie Booker,...

Take a look at the new futuristic, Paris-set science fiction TV series "Osmosis", starring Hugo Becker, Agathe Bonitzer, Stephane Pitti, Gael Kamilindi, Suzanne Rault-Balet, Luna Silva, Manoel Dupont and Yuming Hey, streaming exclusively on Netflix March 29, 2019:

"...in near future Paris, a new dating app called 'Osmosis' can decode 'true love', digging deep into its users' brain data to find a perfect match with 100% accuracy. 

"But is there a price to pay when letting an algorithm decide who you will love, using technology that can access your best-kept secrets?..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Osmosis"...

If movies and TV are any indication, the future of online dating is very bleak. The streaming service that brought you the “Hang the DJ” episode of “Black Mirror” (which ended up being surprisingly hopeful!) is back with a story about how science and true love maybe weren’t meant to be mixed at all. The French series “Osmosis,” which premieres next month on Netflix, follows a group of participants in a new dating service that uses brainwaves to guarantee finding a soulmate. Some are eager participants, while others remain a little skeptical that a pill and a spot of time in a hallucination dome can bring about magical true love. But, as these things tend to do, it looks like the people in this trial end up giving a little bit more than their personal data when this effort starts to fall apart.

Series creator Audrey Fouché previously worked...

The 10th edition of Series Mania in Lille runs March 22-30.

The line-up for the 10th edition of Series Mania, which runs March 22-30 in Lille, has been revealed.

The competition features the world premieres of three Channel 4 dramas, including the Warp Films-produced The Virtues, which is written and directed by Shane Meadows and starring Stephen Graham as a troubled man who returns to Ireland to confront his childhood in the care system. Jack Thorne co-wrote the project.

The other C4 series are Iraq-set crime thriller Baghdad Central, from House Of Sadam creator Stephen Butchard, and Chimerica, created...

Graced by Uma Thurman, “The Good Doctor” star Freddie Highmore and “Black Mirror” creators Charlie Brooker and Anabel Jones, the 10th edition of Series Mania will kick off March 22 with a prominent Netflix presence, a broader geographical reach and a strong showing of women writers and directors.

Thurman will make the trek to Lille, in northeast France, for the international premiere of Netflix Original Series “Chambers,” which looks like one of the hottest tickets in this year’s 10-title Official Competition. “Chambers” is a Ya supernatural drama thriller from Stephen Gaghan and Turner’s multi-platform Super Deluxe. In it a young heart attack victim begins to take on the sinister characteristics of her deceased heart donor. Thurman plays the donor’s mother.

Thurman, Highmore, and Brooker and Jones will deliver Series Mania masterclasses, as will writer-producer-director Marti Noxon, who is president of the Official Competition jury. Other members of the...

Ooh la la, The Kominsky Method has cast Michael Douglas’ French ex-wife: Jacqueline Bisset (Nip/Tuck) will recur during Season 2 of the Netflix comedy as Gabrielle, the former spouse of Douglas’ character who delights in still being able to push her ex’s buttons.

Alan Arkin’s Norman will also get a blast from the past in the form of Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), who will appear in multiple episodes as Madelyn, a well-to-do woman who had a love affair with Norman in the ’60s. Fifty years later, Madelyn and Norman rekindle their relationship.

Additionally, Paul Reiser (Stranger Things,...

Faced with the rising competition from global streaming services and the inflation of sports rights, French networks such as TF1, France Televisions and Canal Plus have ramped up their investment in international drama series in a major way to sustain ratings, boost their brands and lure millennials.

Public broadcasting group France Televisions is spending €280 million ($329 million) in fictional programs. TF1, France’s leading commercial network, is investing more than $176.3 million in fiction per year, while Canal Plus is working with a budget of more than $76.4 million a year.

“The competition, notably from Netflix, is stronger than ever and in this context we need very powerful series to thrive,” says Fabrice de la Patelliere, head of original fiction at Canal Plus.

“We’re going to do two more series per year to reach eight to 10 shows, either French series or international co-productions,” says de la Patelliere. Canal Plus started investing in high-profile drama series 15 years ago,...

CEO Reed Hastings spoke on the French set of ’Osmosis’

Netflix has confirmed a further push into France, with the opening of a new office in Paris next year, as well as investment in three new French-language drama series and the acquisition of another four local productions.

CEO Reed Hastings made the announcement to journalists on the set of the sci-fi drama series Osmosis in France on Thursday (Sept 27).

He said the new Paris outpost would initially employ some 20 people. It is the company’s third European operation, after its regional headquarters in Amsterdam and London offices. The latter is...