On March 30, 2017, after it had been passed at Brazilian Congress, the President of the Republic of Brazil, Michel Temer, signed the Decree nº 9.014/2017, which, after the formalization of the Brazilian Act by the United Kingdom Government, set forth the Co-production Agreement, putting an end to a long time wait to its enactment. This means that, finally, after almost five years, the cooperation between the audiovisual industries of both countries is official.
Similarly to other agreements signed by Brazil, the Co-production Agreement with the United Kingdom primary goals are the exchange of common and complemental characteristics, in order to foster the growth, the competitiveness and the enhance of the audiovisual industry and culture, stimulating the production of audiovisual works that reflect the cultural diversity and the traditions of both countries.
The National Film Agency of Brazil (ANCINE) and the British Film Institute (BFI) – which, since 2011, is responsible for the conduct of the British audiovisual policies – negotiated the terms of the Co-production Agreement. It is noteworthy that both Authorities have the capacity to make decisions regarding the rules of the international co-production recognition.
The Co-production Agreement, which is applicable to the production of audiovisual works for exhibition on movie screens, open or pay-tv, regardless of their format (HD, SD, 3D…), sets some rules for the co-production recognition as, for example, those considered bellow.
The Co-production Agreement provides that each country shall be responsible for, at least, 20% and, at most, 80% of the total production costs. It is noteworthy that the BFI and ANCINE may agree on different limits, provided that the contributions will not be smaller than 10% or higher than 90%. Furthermore, there is also the possibility of a third country participation, in which case the Brazilian and British co-producers contributions cannot be smaller than 20% or higher than 70%.
Moreover, it is important to highlight that the rights, revenues and premiums, derived from an audiovisual work produced under the Co-production Agreement terms, shall be shared between the co-producers accordantly to their financial contributions.
The language of the audiovisual work produced under the Co-production Agreement terms shall be Portuguese, English or a minority language of one of the co-producers, with a subtitled or dubbed version in English or Portuguese.
In addition, members of the technical and artistic team must be nationals or residents of the United Kingdom, Brazil or an EEA State. In case of a third country participation, its nationals may join the technical and artistic team. The Agreement also states that the contributions of the co-producers must be balanced and proportional.
Provided that the parties have complied with the abovementioned rules, as well as with the others terms of the Co-Production Agreement itself, and, alternatively, with ANCINE’s Normative Instruction nº 106, the international co-production shall be recognized by both Competent Authorities and the audiovisual work shall be considered national in Brazil and United Kingdom.
In addition to contributing to the qualification of professionals in the sector and increasing the reach of the national audiovisual products distribution, the enactment of the Coproduction Agreement has enormous potential to increase the volume of business between Brazilian and British companies, especially when considering that the audiovisual works, produced under the Coproduction Agreement terms, will enjoy the public policies available in both countries, which, currently, in Brazil, involve the fostering of audiovisual production and distribution as well as the establishment of pay-tv and cinema quotas.
Fabio de Sá Cesnik, Gabriela Thomazini, Gilberto P. de Carvalho Toscano de Britto and Maria Isabel Tolipan are lawyers at Cesnik, Quintino and Salinas Law Firm, specialized legal service for media, audiovisual and entertainment business in Brazil (www.cqs.adv.br).