Guillaume Esmiol knows he has big shoes to fill following the departure last year of Jerome Paillard after 27 years in charge of the Marché du Film. But the Cannes market’s new executive director is off to a strong start as the global film industry’s annual marathon kicks off in Cannes.
This will be Esmiol’s third market since arriving in 2020 just after the all-online edition that year. His first market was in 2021, a hybrid edition he admits was “very difficult — we had 55% accredited in Cannes and 45% online, so it was tough to manage”.
That year, he took on digital topics and communication and began developing other new programmes such as impACT, in addition to managing the hybrid conferences. “In 2021, I was just getting my bearings,” says Esmiol. “Then in 2022, Jerome and I were co-directors.”
As Paillard prepared to step down, Esmiol took on more operational roles throughout the Palais, the stands, the International Village and screenings. “I have both the luxury and the luck to have been able to have two years of transitioning in,” he says of his first edition sans Paillard. “Jerome may be gone, but he’s left an incredible team who have been here longer than me. They know the industry and the market and the specificities of Cannes. I can rely on them.”
Plus, he adds, “Jerome spent 27 years at the Marché. He knew it all by heart. But he started out when he was 40 years old, just like me. There’s a mirror in that I’m the same age as he was when he arrived. It’s reassuring.”
Esmiol is the face of a more future-forward, tech-savvy industry and market. With an impressive career at the heart of the tech world, Esmiol was head of innovation at TF1 Group and worked with start-up studio Wefound in digital media before joining the Marché.
“Jerome wanted to pass the torch to someone with new ideas, someone who could reinvent it,” he says. “‘Reinvent’ doesn’t mean that what came before didn’t work and I’m going to do everything differently. The Marché has a strong heritage, it’s the number-one market in the industry, the one professionals await the most. So my first objective is to reaffirm our position as a leader in the market and my second is to develop it.”
His facelift will include repositioning the Marché du Film not just as a place to buy and sell films, but as a hub of all aspects of the industry. “I feel there are several markets within the market. There is of course the buying and selling of completed films, ie the classic market, the core of Cannes’ historical business. There is also the market of financing films and the market as a forum of debate for the topics facing the industry. And within the market are several other markets — for IPs, talents, and bridges between cinema and other industries.”
Among the changes being introduced this year are a fast-track access pass for priority badge holders, and off-campus hubs of business activity such as the new Plage des Palmes in addition to the International Village and companies with offices along the Croisette. While other markets have had trouble reeling in wandering industry professionals or hosting private off-the-books screenings, Esmiol is not overly concerned about this in Cannes.
“The industry understands perfectly that when you take advantage of the market, you need to contribute to the market,” he says. “We allow people to have offices elsewhere, but they contribute and use all our other services such as the market screenings or our new venues for business lunches and meetings.”
Business support
However, navigating such contributions in the current context is increasingly challenging. “The industry hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic, particularly the drop in ticket sales for theatrical releases,” Esmiol says. “The industry is struggling so we need to support their business when things are harder for them.
The figures are more encouraging than they were, but still less than 2019. It’s difficult for some exhibitors to sell films at the same price, distributors are taking less risk so they’re paying less. For the Marché, this means some operational challenges for us due to the general inflation. Our costs are higher while we try to keep competitive prices for our clients who have reduced budgets.”
That said, Esmiol is following the industry’s lead and staying confident in what lies ahead. “I’m impressed by the resilience in this sector and especially the creativity,” he says. “If things don’t go as planned, they find ways to adapt. During Covid, they all found the strategies that worked for them. It’s a very agile industry.”
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