Netflix opens Paris HQ

Global streaming giant Netflix has opened a Paris headquarters and significantly increased its investment in French content, with 20 new productions planned.

Reed Hastings

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings unveiled the new hub this afternoon – the streamer’s first dedicated office in France – with the central Paris location housing 40 employees.

Originals announced for the coming year include BigBug, a film by César Award winner Jean-Pierre Jeunet based on a script he wrote Guillaume Laurant.

The comedy movie is set in the future, with a cast including Elsa Zylberstein, Isabelle Nanty and Manu Payet.

Screenwriter Fanny Herrero is developing a six-part series following the lives of four young comedians trying to make it on the Paris stand-up scene.

Original sci-fi series Mortel, created by Frederic Garcia, has been renewed for a second season, while Sentinelle, an action-packed film starring Olga Kurylenko, has been greenlit.

Hastings said: “It is a real honour to be in France, with its rich culture and history of storytelling. This office is a sign of our long-term commitment to the country and will enable us to work even more closely with the French creative community on great shows and films that are made in France and watched all around the world.”

The new commissions join previously announced shows including La Révolution, a historical thriller series created by Aurélien Molas; The Eddy, a musical drama series created by Damien Chazelle (La La Land) and written by Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials); and Vampires, starring Oulaya Amamra and Suzanne Clément and created by Benjamin Dupas and Isaure Pisani-Ferry.

The Paris base is Netflix’s fourth across Europe and comes with a series of partnerships with French creative institutions.

The streamer will support the residency programme at La Fémis, which runs an 11-month full-time training course that helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds get into film and TV.

1000 visages, an association founded in 2006 by Houda Benyamina, provides a number of training programmes in the visual arts and promotes access to jobs within the creative industries. Netflix will become the main partner in its programme dedicated to series’ screenwriting, which is set to launch this month.

Since 2019, Netflix has partnered with Gobelins L’École de l’Image, giving one graduate every year the opportunity to work alongside Netflix’s animation experts in Japan. In addition, Netflix will now contribute to Gobelins’ training programme by funding four-year scholarships for five students as part of their masters in character animation and animated filmmaking.