At the end of December the Spanish government presented a bill aimed at consolidating the country’s audiovisual sector.
Its key clauses focus on giving priority to independent productions when allocating subsidies. The Ministry of Culture’s press release says the government also intends to pay “particular attention to true equality between men and women by using specific reserves in the various support programmes. For example, the 35% of production funding reserved for women, previously allocated by decree, now becomes a legal obligation.”
In terms of cinema exhibition the Ministry wants to reduce the screening quotas for Spanish and European films from 25% to 20%. For the first time Latin American films will be included in this quota. The bill will also affect streaming platforms, since the government wants to make it mandatory for them to publish their audience figures, as the country’s cinemas do now.
The Department’s inclusion of streaming companies is important: their impact, and in particular Netflix’ impact, has increased considerably. The government estimates streaming productions generate 10,000 jobs in Spain. In November, following the international success of their series La Casa de Papel, Netflix opened a new production facility, making Spain its main site for European production.
The growth of Netflix helps one of the government’s objectives: to increase audiovisual production in Spain by 30% by 2025.
Sources: Notre temps, Tele Satellite, France 24
