Sargent-Disc to set off for the 77th Festival de Cannes

Sargent-Disc, a Cast & Crew company, is pleased to be returning to Cannes this year for the 77th edition of the film festival. Members of the team will be in attendance for the opportunity to meet with industry professionals alongside hosting/supporting several festival events.

UK and Irish Films at Cannes

UK and Irish films will have an impressive representation this year at the festival, including three films from Dublin, London and Belfast-based production company Element Pictures. Andrea Arnold’s sixth Feature Bird starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski will be featured in Competition – Arnold’s fourth time – and produced by House Productions, counting BBC Film and BFI within the funders. The esteemed Directors’ Fortnight’s Carrosse d’Or award will also be presented to Arnold this year.

Yorgas Lanthimos’ latest collaboration with Element Pictures, Kinds of Kindness, also sits in Competition whilst Santosh, Sandyha Suri’s neo-noir narrative debut with UK company Good Chaos plays in Un Certain Regard.

Events

Sargent-Disc is honoured to be supporting two important events at the festival this year. The Women in Film and Television Brunch, on Sunday 19th May, and our own International Producers Reception, on Saturday 18th May, will both be opportunities for industry figures to network and celebrate the latest successes in UK Film.

Sargent-Disc Team Attending:

Dr. Laurence Sargent (Director, Sargent-Disc; Co-Head of International, Cast & Crew)

Lara Sargent (Director, Sargent-Disc; Co-Head of International, Cast & Crew)

Sarah McKenzie (Business Development Consultant)

Imogen Mohr (Sales and Marketing Administrator)

Contact Us

If you have an enquiry, or would like to meet with a member of the team, please contact us at cannes@sargent-disc.com

£500M Film and TV Production Restart Scheme

On 28th July, Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced the launch of a new £500 million scheme to help jump-start UK film and television production struggling to secure insurance for COVID-19 related costs.

The new Film and TV Production Restart Scheme will enable UK productions to get back up and running by providing cover for coronavirus-related losses such as filming delays or cast and crew illnesses.

“This is fantastic news for the production industry, ensuring that production teams can get back to creating the high-quality TV shows and features that we all enjoy equipped with sufficient cover for disruptions and delays that arise from the pandemic,” says Dr Laurence Sargent, Director of Sargent-Disc, Co-Head of Cast & Crew International.

Draft Scheme Rules and supplementary Explanatory Notes have been published by DCMS and HM Treasury here.

How it works

The government has introduced this temporary measure to cover productions which commence filming before the end of 2020 for COVID-19 related losses. The scheme will allow productions to backdate future claims to 28th July 2020 as per the initial announcement. The registration deadline has been extended to 23.59 GMT on 28th February 2020, and claims can be submitted up to 23.59 GMT on 30th November 2021 for losses incurred up until 23.59 GMT on 30th June 2021.

Eligible productions will be able to apply for compensation for costs caused by coronavirus delays up to a value of 20% of the production budget. Abandonment of productions will be covered by up to 70% of the budget, upon agreement with the Government that it was necessary. There is a total cap of £5m on claims per production.

Alongside ensuring they are adequately insured by purchasing cover for non-coronavirus risks, productions will need to pay an appropriate excess during the claims process as well as a fee when joining the scheme.

Eligibility

Eligible productions will need to have spent at least half of their budget in the UK and provide evidence that they are unable to start up again due to a lack of insurance. The scheme is expected to support over 70% of film and TV production until the end of the year.

Further details around the claims process and eligibility requirements will be released in the near future.

“This is very welcome news from the UK government, who have worked at pace with the UK’s film, TV and broadcasting industry to develop a fund that will unlock tens of millions of pounds of production spend and help to get production companies and freelancers back to work doing what we do best – making great programmes for the UK and global audiences,” says John McVay, Pact CEO.

DCMS and HM Treasury will be reviewing the scheme periodically to ensure it supports film and television productions to restart following the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information, visit the HMRC website here.

This article is for general information purposes. It is not addressed to any specific parties and does not constitute advice (legal or otherwise) to any person.