France’s big TV rendez-vous is underway. French TV distributors present their best products to international buyers at the market. After St. Tropez and Biarritz, the thirtieth edition is now moving to the port city of Le Havre in Normandy in the north of France.

The market takes place in the run-up to Mipcom and traditionally offers buyers the chance to see the best of upcoming French content in a convivial setting, with lunchtime and evening social events and, in recent years, a gala screening. Ca c’est Paris has the gala slot this time, with another evening of screening of the highly anticipated action comedy from France Télévisions and Paramount+ Zorro.

The event will also reveal annual export figures from French programs, showing how French cuisine is received around the world.

The TV Rendez-Vous has been run by Unifrance since it took over the industry body TV France International in 2021, creating an organization dedicated to film and television. Ahead of the trip to Le Havre, Unifrance’s managing director Daniela Elstner gives Deadline readers a hint of what to expect.

DEADLINE: There are many markets for TV buyers. What is the unique selling point of the Le Havre Rendez-Vous?

I used to be a sales representative and I remember going to Biarritz and St Tropez. But it’s not necessarily about the location, it’s about the organisation and the fact that buyers still go and see the programmes on site and then have lunch together. People talk about what they’ve seen, sometimes they’re with other buyers, sometimes with people from other countries. There’s a constant discussion about the programmes, you tell people what you’ve just seen. People arrange meetings but this adds something, this informal element is quite unique.

DEADLINE: Rendez-Vous is celebrating its 30th anniversary. How has the way buyers view and pre-screen content changed over time?

I think it’s changed a lot since Covid and even before that when people started sending out screening links and each company has their own private screening room. But buyers can get overwhelmed by all the links and web screenings. They’re often watching the shows in the office and are probably on the computer a lot getting messages and answering emails. I think it’s very different with Rendez-Vous.

DEADLINE: What was behind the move to Le Havre?

It’s really quite simple. We wanted to move out of Biarritz partly for budget reasons. September is still high season there, so it’s very expensive, and prices have gone up rather than down. We still wanted to be in a city that was conveniently located and had space for the market and enough hotel rooms and venues to host hundreds of people.

We also wanted more support from the city we chose. Normandy and Le Havre were not the only ones who would have been very happy with something like the Rendez-Vous and we had other options, so it was a difficult decision. After we told our board the choices, everyone said, “We’re going to Le Havre.”

It’s a very different city to Biarritz. There’s a different energy. In some ways it’s a very modern city. We have a mayor (Édouard Philippe) and a whole team who really want us there. Édouard Philippe is coming to the opening.

DEADLINE: The location of the markets in the calendar is very important, tell us about your date in the calendar with Mipcom and other big events later in the year so close.

It’s actually very good because September is the start of the last half of the year. If you launch something in September, you might not sign the contract in Le Havre, but you sign it at MIPCOM and everything is ready. For buyers, I think the good thing is that they can see so much French content, we have animations, feature films, we have documentaries. That means they’ve already seen all the new French programs. They might not buy everything because they also want to wait and see what’s available at MIPCOM, but they have it in their minds. It’s really very convenient for everyone.

Of course, the Rendez-Vous also offers all the deals that may not have been concluded before the summer break.

DEADLINE: What will visitor numbers look like with the move to Le Havre?

We have pretty much the same numbers. What’s interesting is that more senior people come from Paris for a day because you can take a train in the morning and go back the same evening. We also have more people from the CNC because it’s closer (to their headquarters) and we have more press.

In recent years we have added the gala screening and host events at different locations each evening.

DEADLINE: The Le Havre Rendez-Vous is organised by Unifrance following the merger with TVFI. How do you assess this change a few years later?

That changed with global platforms. When you started promoting TV the same way you promoted cinema, and Netflix and others started promoting a TV series like any other film, there was a bottleneck. And at the same time, we saw people moving from cinema to TV. I think that made it very clear that you can’t have two associations in two different buildings.

That was difficult because the subsidy system in France and the state support for television and cinema productions are very strictly separated and different rules apply. When we said we were merging, there was a fear that everything would suddenly become one, but that is absolutely not the case. We communicate together and we do things together, but we also do things completely separately. We still have two legs, but actually it is two legs and one body.

The Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Le Havre will take place from 2 to 6 September.