A dramedy examining modern intergenerational relationships and a suspenseful thriller involving a mysterious rope are among the French scripted formats being aimed at the international market.
Mesdames Productions’ “universal and contemporary story” Hashtag Boomer
Some of France’s top producers and distributors have revealed the new scripted projects they believe are ripe for international adaptation in recent months.
These ambitious and innovative concepts are aiming to follow in the footsteps of hit shows such as Call My Agent, which is set to be remade in markets including the UK, Canada, India, Turkey, Russia and Germany after the French original was discovered by millions on Netflix internationally.
Earlier this year, TV France International (TVFI), the organisation that connects French TV companies with the international market, merged with UniFrance, the country’s publicly funded film promotion arm. The latter now acts as the single national body aiming to promote France’s audiovisual content abroad.
Sarah Hemar
“For about 10 years, French series have enjoyed growing interest internationally and have been more and more recognised at festivals. While programme sales are on the up, the commercialisation of formats remains an opportunity with room for further development,” says Sarah Hemar, the former MD of TVFI who is now deputy MD at UniFrance.
Produced by Mesdames Productions, Hashtag Boomer (8×26’) is among the shows bring primed for an international remake ahead of its debut in France on pay TV network OCS, where it will air alongside US imports such as The White Lotus and Scenes from a Marriage.
Written by Constance Maillet and distributed by Balanga, it follows four 30-something Parisians and examines how the relationship between parents and children, the boomers and the digital natives, is being impacted by digital technologies’ increasing centrality to our day-to-day lives.
Arte’s The Rope follows the discovery of a seemingly endless rope in a forest
Christophe Bochnacki, president at Balanga, says: “It’s a universal and contemporary story, with innovative editing, graphics inspired by social media and YouTube-like tutorials where protagonists break the fourth wall.”
Another show dealing with contemporary issues is Marion Séclin and Niels Rahou’s Diana Boss (5×20’), which is produced by La Belle Télé for streaming service France TV Slash and follows an apprentice in a law firm who is a rapper by night. In both cases, she is committed to fighting social injustice, but it is only a matter of time until her two passions clash and she is forced to choose between them.
Code-switching, when someone – usually a person of colour – adjusts their style of speech, appearance and behaviour depending on the situation they are in, is a key part of the show, says La Belle Télé’s Sébastien Folin.
Wild Bunch TV, meanwhile, is shopping The Rope (3×52’), a series from Les Films de l’Instant and Versus Production that will air on Arte and is set at a scientific observatory deep in a forest. The drama starts when its work is disrupted by the discovery of a seemingly endless rope that intrigues the community so much that six of them decide to follow it to find the other end.
Arte.tv shortform series 6.30pm
A show set to be as short as it is sweet is 6.30pm (22×5’), a series for Arte’s streaming platform Arte.tv made by La Blogothèque, which rose to prominence shooting indie bands live on the streets of Paris.
At 6.30pm, Eric and Mélissa leave the office where they both work to walk to the bus stop and, for five minutes a day, share their various concerns. Shot in continuous takes, the series is described as a cross between a romantic comedy and drama and is being distributed by Lukarn.
Elsewhere, Pascal Breton’s French drama producer Federation Entertainment, which is setting up a new operation in London with Polly Williams and Arielle Gottlieb at the helm, continues to seek international versions of The Bureau (50×52’), which it produces with The Oligarchs Productions.
The Canal+ spy thriller has drawn praise for its realistic depiction of secret agents’ complex lives and contemporary geopolitical issues, with US and South Korean versions potentially on the horizon as the French scripted format industry looks to grow its international footprint.
