Copyright Variety
France’s vibrant VFX sector now stands at the forefront of the country’s broader push to strengthen its global production appeal, reflecting a national strategy that has championed the craft ever since the 2020 revision of the Tax Rebate for International Production (TRIP). That update introduced a 10% bonus on all eligible expenses for productions spending over $2.3 million with local VFX houses. Five years on, the incentive has proven transformative, driving studio expansion, nurturing talent and attracting a steady stream of high-profile international projects to French soil. Today, the sector has reached maturity — and with maturity comes resilience. The unexpected collapse of Technicolor triggered layoffs and production disruptions, while a broader post-pandemic slowdown has seen commissions drop nearly 30%. With AI disruption and studio consolidation looming, growth increasingly depends on adaptability. “Flexibility, agility and teamwork define the new business model,” says the Yard founder and CEO Laurens Ehrmann. “Our midsize structure offers a real advantage. Clients know their projects matter, that they’ll get an A-team, and that we’ll always respond quickly.” With outposts in Paris, Montpellier and now London — a move to access multiple tax credits while staying close to partners like Amazon and Netflix — the Yard has tied its expansion directly to relationship management. Case in point: after working on 2019’s “Ford v Ferrari,” the Yard maintained strong ties with the project’s VFX supervisor, who later entrusted them with advanced creature work on this year’s “Predator: Badlands.” Tasked with a milestone sequence, the studio built an animation, character, creature and digidouble pipeline from scratch, handling 120 complex shots and creating a robust toolset for future creature FX. “Working on creatures is one of the most complex parts of VFX,” Ehrmann explains. “Mastering it allows you to bid on entire sequences with vast environments and complex characters, now positioning us as a tier-one VFX company.” Executives from VFX studio One of Us describe their work on 2024’s “Damsel” as similarly transformative. The studio delivered over 400 shots, including 250 featuring a fully realized, emotive dragon, with the rest dedicated to large-scale destruction and fully 3D environments. Splitting the work between outposts in London and Paris, the studio’s teams collaborated seamlessly, emerging from this trial-by-fire with cost-saving insights. “Getting involved early is critical,” says Emmanuel Pichereau, CCO of One of Us. “It allows us to plan strategically, reduce shot counts, control costs and, most importantly, align with the film’s storytelling from the very beginning when changes are still flexible.” The studio is applying this philosophy to upcoming projects like “The Bride!” and “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.” For both, the team is working from its Paris office to qualify for the full French tax rebate, crafting visual effects designed to be seamless rather than showy. “We want to blend into these worlds,” says CEO Rachael Penfold. “We’re there to serve the story and realize the filmmakers’ vision, not to show off. The best visual effect is often the one you never notice.” But Penfold is happy to tout the French value proposition — and she recently traveled to Los Angeles to championed Gallic talent at industry sessions and case studies. “The French film industry is mature, and its talent is often immersed in a culture of great filmmaking, not just trained on specific software,” Penfold says. “The emphasis is cultural — it’s about artistic problem-solving and craftsmanship. While some focus on technical details, French artists tend to take a more holistic, well-rounded view. That mindset brings added value to every project.”
