The Unifrance Rendez-Vous is the biggest market of the year focused on French TV content. With both travel and programming budgets under pressure, all markets have to make a strong case to get buyer and seller bums on seats (or, more accurately, into screening booths and meeting rooms). The Rendez-Vous’ unique selling point has long been the fact it allows attendees to network and do business over several days in which screenings and social gatherings are an integral part of the proceedings. The distributors all talk about the chance to get quality time with their clients.
The buyers, meanwhile, they are getting a market sharply focused on French programming, spanning factual, kids, and drama. It helps that there is some high-end hospitality on offer. The networking lunches, dinners and galas and events showcase some of Le Havre and Normandy’s cultural hotspots while top restaurants, chefs and vineyards also show off what they have to offer.
It’s a decidedly French affair and all the better for it. And yet the business environment is tough. Selling non-English-language programming to international buyers is challenging. The latest French TV export figures will be revealed at the market. Against that backdrop, and as distribution and acquisition execs prepare for the trip to Le Havre, Unifrance Executive Director, Daniela Elstner, and Director of Audiovisual, Sarah Hemar, gave Deadline the low-down on the 2025 edition.
DEADLINE: What did you learn from the move to Le Havre last year?
Sarah Hemar: We learned that any move is challenging, but the good news is that we know the formula remains super efficient and we want to keep it. It is an all-inclusive event [in terms of genres] and we have a screening room on site. People can screen, discuss what they have seen, and have time for business, and time to network. It’s true that there are challenges, there are restrictions on travel, acquisition budgets are under pressure, but it’s the time where people can come with a fresh mind after the summer and before the end-of-the-year sprint.
Daniela Elstner: We have also learned how we have to adapt to there being a multitude of markets, many of them more specialized and which keep on bumping up and require the distributors and the buyers to make choices.
We do it twice a year now, in Paris and in Le Havre, so we have to come up with specificities for each market. Le Havre is very good in terms of timing for sales people. It brings you back after the summer break and as you organize your end of year. The broadcasters also start to know how much budget they have left, and what they can spend.
DEADLINE: All budgets are under pressure, including for travel. How do you sell the idea of the Rendez-Vous to exhibitors and buyers?
Daniela Elstner: Companies have more rules and restrictions around travel and people ask: ‘Why do you have to meet this person when you can do it on Zoom?’ But the business is about meeting people, talking about productions and getting something that you might not just spot on the website, but you get it because someone tells you a story and talks to you about it. That is the strength of Le Rendez-Vous, having this very high-quality time with your buyers, and even among the buyers themselves. They have lunch together and talk about what they’ve seen.
DEADLINE: What are the buyer numbers looking like this time?
Sarah Hemar: We have a slight decrease so we will be around 150 this year. We see that team numbers are reduced and the companies also have stricter policies on traveling. And now we’re also inviting them to Paris and we’re going to see them, in some cases, in their own territories.
DEADLINE: How do you slot into the calendar ahead of MIPCOM?
Daniela Elstner: MIPCOM is going to be stronger with the disappearance of MIP TV. Traditionally, the Rendez-Vous in September helps to prepare for the upcoming markets at the end of the year.
DEADLINE: What is the long-term commitment to having the market in Le Havre?
Daniela Elstner: It’s an annual commitment, but set up with a long-term view. We really have a very good and strong relationship with the city. And it has always been a very cinematographic city, look at the last Cédric Klapisch film [Colours of Time] for example, and they want to bring more productions into the city and the region. So, for us, it’s really good.
Sarah Hemar: We will open on September 1 at the [MuMa] modern art museum in Le Havre with Édouard Philippe, the Mayor of Le Havre and a politician. For us, it’s important to introduce our participants to Le Havre and Normandy.
DEADLINE: You have a dedicated screening space and it seems you are really leaning into the aspect that let’s buyers watch programs before having meetings with sales execs?
Sarah Hemar: We see a general tendency for fewer screenings at markets, but the distributors, the sellers, really want people to have seen their content before having a meeting. So we have secured that for the buyers. The buyers will really kick off the market on the Tuesday morning with half a day of screenings.
DEADLINE: The French TV export numbers are released at the market. Ahead of seeing the stats, what is your general sense of the appetite among international buyers for French content at the moment?
Sarah Hemar: The market is getting very, very competitive. We can see all the French distributors are very resilient and very creative in terms of selling French content.
We usually unveil the export numbers and we will do so again this year, but we have added some discussion around how content is consumed. Our President, Gilles Pélisson, will have a discussion with Yannick Carriou from Mediametrie about the measurement of consumption. For us, it’s important, because we know so many things are changing. People watching YouTube, consumption being a combination of linear and nonlinear, and it’s important that we have time to reflect on this together. We have tweaked the program so we can address that.
Deadline: The international TV market is clearly evolving, how do you think French-produced and French-language fare fits in?
Daniela Elstner: I worked in sales for 20 years and there were a lot of changes all the time. And people always asked: ‘How are you going to deal with this new situation?’ I think French production, in a way, is actually doing fine, and that’s also thanks to the huge support and the funding system we have in France. We are quite rich in terms of diversity of content, and in terms of combining independent production with content from the major media groups.
There’s also an energy, globally, and especially in art and culture, to offer answers in a very complicated political world. Look at the best documentaries from the last year… they are so important in terms of what’s going on. We have a duty to push things forward. And France knows how to produce content, in different ways, and covering a lot of different topics that are important to the world.
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