EXCLUSIVE: On the eve of his third term as the trade association’s chairman, Michael Ryan has fired a broadside at European Commission proposals for a Digital Single Market.

Michael Ryan

The GFM Films partner will officially transition into the role on September 24 when the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) holds its annual membership meeting, marking the third time he will have held the position.

In an interview with Screendaily, Ryan said he wanted to use IFTA’s voice to speak out against what he views as a threat to the livelihood of thousands of industry professionals.

“[The DSM] is patently something that will destroy the independent film business if they pass it into law,” the incoming chairman said.

“We already have the ability to download and take our favourite programmes with us. We don’t need legislation from the European Union allowing it to be broadcast all over the place and deal a death blow to the independent film business.”

European Commission (EU) chiefs say their proposal to turn 28 national markets within the EU into a single one would create a seamless marketplace and could boost GDP across those countries by up to $300m a year.

Yet Ryan and critics of the policy say the end to geo-blocking would have a catastrophic impact on the film business and in particular the traditional film financing structure and the pre-sales mechanism that drives it.

“[Imagine] if I go to Gaumont and say ‘Here’s the rights but I can’t protect you and the rest of the Europe because there’s a rule issued by the EU that says you cannot have borders and I have also sold it to Germany and they’re releasing it before you,’” said Ryan.

“‘I know you have paid €1m and it will be all over the place before you get the chance to get it out.’ Nobody buys it then. You are playing into the hands of Amazon, Netflix and whoever will buy it.

“But there will not be individual distributors any more because they will not have the chance to monetise it within their border. All I would be able to do is go to Netflix and say, ‘Will you take Europe?’”

Ryan added that while there was room in the market for Netflix and it was “quite exciting to have a buyer that strong”, the streaming giant remained a “customer like everybody else” and might not necessarily acquire every film available.

“So we’re relying on individual territories and distributors to buy this individual’s film.”

Going forward, Ryan regards IFTA’s role in the matter as one of education before the Commission takes further steps to implement its proposed borderless European jurisdiction.

“It’s about making people aware,” he said. “It’s up to us and the members to get out there and make people aware of what this means: it’s a death knell for the independent business.”

Taking a broader perspective Ryan said he was looking forward as chairman to ongoing collaboration with China in a meaningful way and representing membership across a range of issues.

“It’s nice to have a European feel to IFTA,” he said. “For a long time we have been very American-centric and there’s very large percentage of our members that are non-American and I would like them to have their voice.”

Prior to GFM Films Ryan served as president of Handmade Films International, the studio behind Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, Time Bandits, Withnail And I, and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels.