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Conversation with SACD

Remake, sequels, prequels : other forms of exploitation to enhance a catalog of film rights.

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Remakes are not only part of American cinema. Numerous remakes are scattered throughout French cinema. The opportunity to take stock around a conversation with the SACD, Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques, which works in particular for the defense of copyright and intellectual property. A meeting moderated by Thomas Baurez, journalist at Première. 

As part of this 8th edition of the International Classic Film Market (MIFC), the SACD came to discuss their role in cinema and more generally in heritage cinema. Moderated by Thomas Baurez, journalist, this meeting was composed of Isabelle Meunier-Besin (Head of audiovisual production contract negotiation service / Legal Affairs and Audiovisual Contract Department, SACD), Jean-Paul Salomé (director and writer), Ron Halpern (Exec VP:Intl Production, Studiocanal) and Vincent Roget (Producer, Same Player).

Isabelle Meunier-Besin began this conversion by contextualizing her visit to the MIFC: "This is the only round table where we talk about authors. SACD particularly appreciates the invitation made by the MIFC. Today, we see that there is a porosity between repertoires. There are many readaptations or remakes between cinema and television. We can mention, for example, 12 Monkeys, starting with a short film by Chris Marker before being remaked into a film by Terry Gilliam and then readapted into a TV series, or Fargo by the Coen Brothers who themselves produced the TV adaptation of their own film." Head of audiovisual production contract negotiation service / Legal Affairs and Audiovisual Contract Department, SACD also explained that the world of video games also draws on cinema. She also redefined the role of SACD in the life of authors, particularly in terms of their legal rights. 

In the early 2000s, Jean-Paul Salomé himself directed a remake of Belphégor for the cinema, the iconic French fantasy television series of the 1960s. During his conversation with SACD, he went back in detail about this adventure: "At the time, I was working with my scriptwriter, who is no longer there today, Laurence Lemaire, who was none other than Juliette Gréco's daughter." As a reminder: the actress and singer was in the title role of the 1965 mini-series. "With Laurence, we often talked about this series that had traumatized us as children. At the beginning of the 2000s, in France, we didn't talk too much about remakes. It wasn't too fashionable. The original series was already an adaptation of a novel. I had found the heirs to the rights of the series and nobody was doing anything about it". The filmmaker says that at that time, it was "easier" to obtain the rights to a work than it is today. 

Live on Zoom, Ron Halpern returned to A Bigger Splash, a remake of Jacques Deray's La Piscine. A film emblematic of the Heritage cinema carried in particular by Alain Delon and Romy Schneider. In 2016, the rehabilitation of this classic by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino had been curtailed by critics. Many reproached the film for scuppering a masterpiece. Ron Halpern tempers: "If we refer to old contracts, the term 'remake' appears as early as the beginning of the 1940s. It's not something new. We've always made adaptations. La Piscine is an iconic film in France but not necessarily abroad. Sometimes we adapt a film to highlight the original film which is too confidential. Like Dix jours sans maman, starring Frank Dubosc, which is a remake of an Argentine film that is not necessarily known." Exec VP:Intl Production, Studiocanalsaid with a smile that if A Bigger Splash was badly received in France, it was not the case abroad.

In order to develop the rights acquisition process, Vincent Roget, producer at Same Player, explained that he was currently working on a remake project of La Traque. An "incredible obscure film from the 70's that brought together Jean-Pierre Marielle, Philippe Léotard, Jean-Luc Bideau and Mimsy Farmer." The producer said that the acquisition of the original rights was not a very complex affair as the film is not very well known by the general public. "Sometimes, some heirs are more difficult to convince, we have the impression that they feel they have a mission of protection," Roget added. To acquire the rights, the producer called on the SACD. Isabelle Meunier-Besin recalls this specific case, recontextualizing that the buyers were two on the project, Vincent Roget and "one from the United States". In the end, the producer was able to acquire the rights because his case was "stronger" according to Isabelle Meunier-Besin. Head of audiovisual production contract negotiation service / Legal Affairs and Audiovisual Contract Department, SACD elaborates: "The rights were blocked with an option contract, as when authors continue to retain the rights to their works.” She concluded by returning to the definition of authors' moral rights. One of the absolute protections of intellectual property in France, which allows original authors to prevent the seizure of their works, is the moral rights of authors. One of the absolute protections of intellectual property in France, which allows original authors to prevent their work from being seized, is the right of the author to use his or her work in any way that does not infringe on the rights of the author.

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