Netflix is getting ready to officially launch its swanky Paris office on Jan. 17. The streaming giant has planned an afternoon of discussions that gather together Netflix executives, including the company’s co-founder, chairman and CEO Reed Hastings, as well as the filmmakers and producers who have worked with Netflix.
As previously announced, the French outpost won’t be dedicated to production as in Spain, where Netflix bowed its first European production hub, but it will be staffed with executives working across several fields, including production, acquisition, and marketing. The 27,000-square-foot office will spread over three floors and will be located in the heart of Paris, in a chic and hip neighborhood in the city’s 9th arrondissement.
The panels on Jan. 17 include a roundtable bringing together the up-and-coming directors Julien Leclercq and Leïla Sy, as well as rapper-turned-actor Kery James, who will participate in a discussion with Sara May, the director of licensing and co-productions for France and Italy at Netflix.
The second panel discussing the use of technology in storytelling will feature Jimmy Fusil, the head of creative technologies and infrastructure at Netflix; Amélie Dibon, Netflix’s post-production manager; and Karine Pierre-Louis, Netflix’s products creative manager.
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The third roundtable will look behind the scenes of key Netflix originals made in France. Participants are Damien Couvreur, the head of French series originals at Netflix; producer Raphaël Rocher from Empreinte Digitale (“Marianne”); Fanny Herrero, the creator of “Call My Agent!”; and Houda Benyamina, who directed episodes of Damien Chazelle’s “The Eddy.”
Hastings has previously spoken of France as a key European market for Netflix. The streaming service has been ramping up the volume of French originals significantly within the last year. More than 15 French originals have been developed, produced and/or launched at the service since 2018. Among them are the romantic comedy “Plan Coeur,” the supernatural series “Osmosis” and the horror show “Marianne.”
