Banijay Entertainment CEO Marco Bassetti has a blunt message for Europe’s production community: the quota fight is a distraction, and the real negotiation with U.S. studios and streamers is about who owns the work. Speaking at Rome’s MIA market, the head of the world’s largest independent studio said producers should demand “rewards for creativity” in the form of retained IP rights.
The quota debate is not the battle
Bassetti called the current Brussels fight over investment quotas under Europe’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive “entirely pointless.” Those rules require foreign streaming services to invest a portion of their revenue in local productions, but leave the terms to each country. That fragmentation, in his view, misses the real issue.
“Who invests in creativity? It’s us independent producers,” Bassetti said during a fireside chat with Italian producer Marco Chimenz.
Ownership is leverage
The argument is structural. In markets such as the UK, a producer who sells a series typically gets rights reversion after about three years, plus a built-in incentive for creators. In much of continental Europe, the same deal often leaves the studio or platform with total control and the producer in a service role.
“If the streamers just treat production companies as mere service providers it’s a problem,” Bassetti said. He acknowledged “things are starting to open up a bit” on release windows, but called it “only a partial shift.”
Scale changes the conversation
Bassetti speaks from a position of uncommon scale. Two months ago Banijay Entertainment and RedBird IMI completed the $8 billion merger of Banijay and All3Media. The combined company holds more than 265,000 hours of content, with franchises including The Traitors, Big Brother, MasterChef, Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror. Last week at Mipcom in Cannes, Bassetti said the company sees room to grow its scripted business and hinted at a U.S. scripted expansion.
What producers should push for
- IP retention or reversion: Put UK-style three-year reversion into the contract.
- Window flexibility: Secure release sequences that leave room for producer value.
- Creator upside: Tie compensation to performance, not just the production fee.
Why this matters for the screen business
For media planners and entertainment marketers, producer leverage changes what gets made and how long it can travel. A work-for-hire fee is booked once. Owned IP compounds: rights can be relicensed, formats can travel and libraries can be financed. If European producers remain service providers, that long-term value stays with the platforms.
The takeaway for producers is to reframe platform negotiations around assets, not just commissions. For buyers, a shift in terms of trade would show up as longer franchise life, more format movement and potentially different licensing windows.
Source: Variety
