Thousands of French actors call for fair share of streaming profits

The day before the opening of the Cannes film festival, some 7,000 French actors called on streaming platforms for a more fair distribution of profits.

Karin Viard, one of 7,000 French actors who signed a letter calling on platforms to apply a 2021 law and better share streaming profits with those who appear in the films and television series. © Loic Venance/AFP

Echoing demands made by actors and screenwriters during the nearly four-month strike in Hollywood last year, French actors in an open letter published Sunday, are asking to be "compensated proportionally to the success of the work in which they collaborated".

Actors including André Dussollier, Karin Viard and Catherine Frot are asking for the application of a 2021 law based on a European directive passed three years before that intends for a framework to compensate actors for streaming rights, but which the signatories to the letter say platforms like Netflix and Prime Video appear to have forgotten.

“Legally the platforms are totally out of line. But we have the impression that they don’t care,” actor Anne Bouvier, president of the board of directors of the Adami performers’ rights association, which launched the open letter.

Streaming rights, which complement authors’ rights, can be much higher, but Bouvier said that currently actors only receive a one-time flat fee of about €1,000 to  €1,500, even if a series or film is played a million times.

“If by good fortune the whole planet is glued to your series, not a single extra euro will be given to those who embody the success on screen,” wrote the authors of the text.

Bouvier said quite a few actors appeared ready to be mobilsed, as the Cannes international film festival kicks off, though they would like to avoid resorting to a strike.

Evoking the 2023 Hollywood strike, the authors said “in their image, we hope to move the lines and at least get everyone around the table”, calling on support from Culture minister Rachida Dati and the government to apply the 2021 law.