Any producer who, in his capacity as line producer, has taken the initiative and financial, artistic and technical responsibility for the production of a feature-length cinematographic work eligible for financial support for production from the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée and whose successful completion he has guaranteed must, within eight months of the date of issue of the cinematographic licence, draw up and send the production account for the work to the other co-producers, to the companies with which it has signed a financing contract giving them a share of the box office receipts and to the authors listed inarticle L. 113-7 of the French Intellectual Property Code and, where applicable, to publishers who are transferees of the audiovisual adaptation rights of a printed work, provided that it has entered into a contract with these authors or publishers giving them a share in the exploitation revenues of the work, subject to amortisation of the production cost.
The production account is also sent to any other natural or legal person with whom the line producer has concluded a contract giving him a share in the revenue from the exploitation of the work, subject to the amortisation of the production cost. Where there is a collective agreement or a specific agreement made compulsory on the basis ofarticle L. 212-8 of the same code providing, for the benefit of performers, for remuneration conditional on the amortisation of the cost of production of the work, the line producer sends the production account to the performers or to an organisation for the collective management of performers’ rights mentioned in Title II of Book III of Part One of the said code designated for this purpose. Where a share of the revenue from the exploitation of the work is determined on the basis of the depreciation of certain elements of the production cost, the line producer sends these elements, as well as the production cost, to the beneficiary of the share.
The production account includes all expenditure incurred in the preparation, direction and post-production of the work, establishes its final cost and indicates the means of financing it.