Le Rendez-Vous: France TV showcase hits top mark.

From September 9-13, television program buyers from around the globe gather for deal-making, hand-shaking and fun under the Saint-Tropez sun for the eighth annual edition of the French TV Screenings, also known as the Rendez-Vous. Organized by Paris-based TV France International (TVFI), the 170-member association that represents 80 percent of France's TV companies, the event brings together 49 of TVFI's members and 163 buyers from 35 countries representing 80 foreign television channels for four solid days of sales, press conferences and entertainment.

French producers, distributors and broadcasters put on display some 650 programs (60 percent of which are new) at the Espace Jean Despas, including drama series, TV movies, feature films, documentaries, children's programs, animated cartoons and game shows. One could say that every genre is present and accounted for. Acquisition executives are provided with 100 monitors to facilitate the viewing and are given the choice of screening selected programs in their original French or dubbed or subtitled in English.

Rendez-Vous 2002 shows a marked rise in attendance from previous years. At last year's market, 53 French producers offered 642 programs (80 percent of which were new) to 115 buyers from 45 countries. The programs were reviewed a total of 2,968 times. The countries that screened the most programming were Canada (295), Finland (287) and Sweden (200).

The event takes place a month before MIPCOM, the much-larger international TV market in nearby Cannes, thus giving French TV a leg up on the competition. Small arid midsize companies find the Rendez-Vous' carefree ambiance and tranquil milieu to be the perfect precursor to the bigger market.

French program sales have steadily increased over the last six years and on Tuesday, September 10, TVFI's managing director, Mathieu Bejot, will present 2001's sales figures at the Moulins de Ramatuelle. Figures for the year 2000 indicated that foreign sales reached approximately 130 million euro, an increase of 15 million euro from the previous year -- and 2001's numbers are expected to exceed that. Foreign investment in French productions rose 14.2 percent in 2000, surpassing the 171 million euro mark. Surprisingly, it was German-language territories that became French TV's best customer (having been passed the torch from Italy, who held that title in 1999), generating 32.5 percent of total earnings. Italy came in second at 16.4 percent, followed by the U.K., at 15.4 percent. Animated programs continued to be France's largest export, making up 34.7 percent of total foreign sales. At last year's event, Bejot lamented that 2001 looked to be a terrible year for content sales, but things began looking up after the festival concluded.

On September 12, Bejot joins David Kessler, managing director of the CNC, Dr. Jean-Michel Couve, deputy mayor of Saint-Tropez and TVFI's president Jean Louis Guillaud in presiding over TVFI's Gala Dinner. Other events include private visits to the Annonciade Museum, lunch in the garden of the Ambassade du Tourisme and a closing party at the "Papagayo."