France Télévisions launches work on its new studios in the heart of the “image village”, the future French “Hollywood”

On Friday November 15, 2024, France Télévisions launched work on the extension of its studios already installed since 2018 in Vendargues near Montpellier in Hérault. Located in the heart of the future image village, the site is set to become a real industrial hub with many jobs to come.

France Télévisions planted a tree on Friday November 15, 2024, as the “first stone” of its new studios in Vendargues near Montpellier in Hérault.

The V Studios project of France.tv Studio, the Group’s commercial production subsidiary, selected in May 2023 as part of the “France 2030” financing plan of the Grande Fabrique de l’image, was launched in the presence of the CEO Delphine Ernotte, the president of the Occitanie Region, Carole Delga and Michaël Delafosse, mayor of Montpellier and president of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole.

After its installation in March 2018 of its production studios where the series “Un si Grand soleil” is filmed, broadcast on France 3, another V Studios extension project will see the light of day in 14 months in the heart of the future “village of ‘picture”.

To the already existing 16,000 square meters, two new buildings will be added for a total surface area of ​​8,000 square meters with 4 floors of 300 and 800 square meters. They will house multi-purpose film sets, dressing rooms, offices, storage and catering spaces. The site will be put into operation at the beginning of 2026 and will be able to accommodate all types of productions, French and foreign. A third building could be built at the end of this first phase of development.

This new extension should make it possible to double the filming capacity, accommodate even more productions, in-house or not, and meet the ambitions of the State, as Delphine Ernotte, the CEO of the audiovisual group, explains: “There was this France 2030 call for projects, a public policy in particular in favor of the installation of studios. We said to ourselves, we have this experience at Vendargues 1, which is a totally successful experience for us, we now have what if we deployed this know-how more widely?

The project represents an investment of 30 million euros which will allow France Télévisions to open up to independent production, and for all types of creative projects (feature films, fiction, documentaries, video games, advertising films, music videos) . And the site is already of interest to producers.

When we responded to the call for projects, we had the explicit support of very, very large production groups who look very favorably on the installation of studios here because we have the question in France of knowing where to shoot

Delphine Ernotte, CEO of France Télévisions

This project to double the filming capacity of V Studios could generate the creation of numerous jobs in the audiovisual and cinematographic sector in Occitania. They will be added to the approximately 2,500 employees already present for productions such as “Un Si Grand Soleil” and soon M6/SND, which has chosen the Vendargues site to shoot the set part of its future daily soap opera.

Proof of the dynamism of the sector, this studio will not be the only one to open soon. Another mega project is in the works: Pics studios run by the GGL group in Saint-Gely-du-Fesc, still near Montpellier. It would be made up of around ten high-tech film sets and a training campus which will see the light of day in 2026-2027. Objective: to attract international productions, particularly American ones.

Could Montpellier and Occitanie become French Hollywood?

There’s a bit of that. Cinema, series, documentary, animation. It must be said that filming is increasing. According to the CNC, 10 filmings per day take place per week, which places Occitanie just after Ile-de-France.

The opening of these future film studios marks a new stage for the cultural and creative industries (ICC) sector, in full development, supported by the Region and the Metropolis of Montpellier. “We often joke about a second Hollywood, but I think we have to have ambition and I think we bring it to this territory. I think that in 10 years, we will say that people were visionary in creating an industrial center in Montpellier in the Occitanie region”says Marie-Thérèse Mercier, regional advisor in charge of professional training, the economy, employment, innovation and reindustrialization.

The site also generates jobs: “That’s almost 10,000 jobs in the region. The entire sector is concerned upstream and downstream, including with video games which use the same skills. completes the chosen one.

The public authorities are not failing to put their hands in their pockets so that Occitanie becomes the European audiovisual leader. 5,000 new jobs are at stake within 3 years. A very ambitious scenario that everyone wants to see come true.