Two streaming services quit production of Danish-language content
Streaming service Viaplay is to stop producing Danish content, following a similar decision by Netflix earlier this year.
Viaplay announced the decision in an open letter to the Producentforeningen and Create Danmark unions, which represent producers and film industry workers such as writers.
The two Danish unions recently reached a rights agreement in January which intended to ensure that filmmakers and screenwriters receive a larger share of the profits if a series or film is distributed widely and is successful.
Both Netflix and TV2 Play have already ceased production of Danish fiction programmes as a result of the agreement.
“Until we have reached a sustainable agreement, we cannot see any immediate alternative than putting further production of Danish fiction projects on hold,” Viaplay chief content officer Filippa Wallestam wrote in the statement.
“In the long term, we hope we can find a viable way so that we can again produce fiction in Denmark and thereby achieve our ambitious goal of becoming the leading provider of Danish-produced films and series,” Wallestam said.
Viaplay’s chief content officer also said that the rights agreement and a new governmental policy requiring production companies to pay 6 percent of their profits as a “cultural contribution” to support Danish public media could make Denmark “a low priority market in relation to investments in local content.”
The cultural contribution is a recent introduction by the government and specifically requires streaming companies to pay a 6 percent levy on their profits in Denmark.
The agreement between Producentforeningen and Create Danmark runs for two years.
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Viaplay announced the decision in an open letter to the Producentforeningen and Create Danmark unions, which represent producers and film industry workers such as writers.
The two Danish unions recently reached a rights agreement in January which intended to ensure that filmmakers and screenwriters receive a larger share of the profits if a series or film is distributed widely and is successful.
Both Netflix and TV2 Play have already ceased production of Danish fiction programmes as a result of the agreement.
“Until we have reached a sustainable agreement, we cannot see any immediate alternative than putting further production of Danish fiction projects on hold,” Viaplay chief content officer Filippa Wallestam wrote in the statement.
“In the long term, we hope we can find a viable way so that we can again produce fiction in Denmark and thereby achieve our ambitious goal of becoming the leading provider of Danish-produced films and series,” Wallestam said.
Viaplay’s chief content officer also said that the rights agreement and a new governmental policy requiring production companies to pay 6 percent of their profits as a “cultural contribution” to support Danish public media could make Denmark “a low priority market in relation to investments in local content.”
The cultural contribution is a recent introduction by the government and specifically requires streaming companies to pay a 6 percent levy on their profits in Denmark.
The agreement between Producentforeningen and Create Danmark runs for two years.
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