MPA Europe Chief Stan McCoy Talks Hollywood’s Concerns as New EU Parliament Takes Charge
variety.comNick Vivarelli International Correspondent Following recent European Union elections held in June that saw far-right parties made significant gains, Hollywood is making moves to ensure that the new EU regime doesn’t draft new legislation that would be detrimental for studios and streamers. “We are at a moment when [EU] policies are not set in stone yet,” said Stan McCoy, who is the Motion Picture Assn.’s chief for Europe, speaking at the Venice Film Festival. “You have a new parliament, they are going through the process,” he added. “The industry always has a big job to do to educate Brussels about why the industry works the way it does.” McCoy expanded on several key issues the MPA is preparing to lobby for in Brussels. Manage risk by negotiating diverse production arrangements “There are some people out there in the [EU] industry that advocate that there should be rules where the producer always retains the IP.
Basically our position is: Don’t make that a rule across the board because that’s going to shrink the possibility of making deals,” said McCoy. “We are advocating to leave the production partners the freedom to reach agreements regarding IP on projects in a way that reflects their appetite for risk.
We are concerned about maintaining the rational relationship between risk and reward in dealmaking.“ Support exclusive territorial licensing “For years, the entire EU audiovisual system has been totally unified in saying: ‘We understand and embrace the single market,'” said McCoy. “But the ‘single market’ should not mean that you no longer get to sell rights territory by territory.
That’s going to grossly interfere with the business model of the industry.” Therefore, the EU should preserve exclusive territorial.
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