France's culture minister Jean-Jacaques Aillagon officially opened the first Observatory for Cinematic Production in the French capital on Tuesday.

The newly created think tank, described as a 'place of regular debates on the economy of the production of films in France,' was one of the initiatives put forth by Aillagon last April in order to aid film production. The group, made up of local film producers' unions, television networks, representatives from the distribution, export and video sectors as well as the main unions behind industry workers, will meet two to three times per year.

During the first meeting, the Observatory reportedly took a look at production figures for 2003 and a study on the profitability of French films. Aillagon also told the press that he had asked for a study which would 'reflect on the rules of transparency' for the video industry, likely spurred on by the fact that reporting methods for video are considered quite unclear at present.