Netflix Donates $1.1M To France’s COVID-19 Film & TV Emergency Fund As It Continues $100M Relief Efforts

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Netflix has unveiled the latest donation made by its $100M fund that was set up on March 20 to provide emergency relief to the global creative industries during the coronavirus pandemic.

A total of $1.1M (€1M) will go to support the French COVID-19 Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund, which is being set up with Audiens, the social protection group of the French cultural sector, in agreement with the country’s Minister of Culture represented by the CNC.

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The money will be made available as grants to vulnerable freelancers in the audiovisual and movie sectors who live project to project – including carpenters, electricians, and hair and make-up artists – and cannot work due to the near global production shut down. It is available to those who have worked at least 12 days in the sector between September 2019 and February 2020 and will open for applications in one week on April 15.

The donation mirrors similar moves elsewhere from Netflix including in the UK which has its own COVID-19 Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund, run by the Film & TV Charity and BFI, which the streamer also gave $1.2M (£1M) to, and in India where it donated $1M. Further territories are set to benefit shortly.

Most of the $100M pot is earmarked for workers on Netflix’s own productions, but $15M is reserved for crew outside of the streamer’s stable.

“We’re grateful to be able to work with Audiens to support the hardest hit workers in TV and film production, who are a part of the internationally admired french creative industry,” said Damien Couvreur, Director Original Series at Netflix. “In addition to the support we give to the crews, casts and technical partners involved in our productions, we also want to help those who most need financial assistance in the sector more broadly, especially freelancers hit by the current crisis.”

“The funds will help us maintain emergency support we have put in place for the most fragile workers from the cultural industries, in addition to our usual activities,” added Isabelle Thirion, Social development Director at Audiens. “One of Audiens’ core values is solidarity, and we want to thank Netflix for contributing to support freelancers from TV and cinema industries in these difficult times for the media and culture at large.”

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