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French TV distributors are putting on a show in Paris this week. There are 80 sales outfits in the French capital showing their wares to about 500 international buyers at the Rendez-Vous event, and the buying and selling action takes place in the 4-star Pullman Paris Montparnasse hotel.
Put together by industry org Unifrance, the content market was historically film focused. TV has, however, been part of the proceedings since Unifrance absorbed the TV-focused TVFI in 2021.
Screenings are part of the event, with the line-up dominated by movies; however, a handful of series will also be showcased including The Deal from Gaumont. The drama tracks high-level nuclear talks and it played in competition at Series Mania, winning that event’s Buyer Upfronts accolade.
Talent will also be on the ground from several big-ticket French series, including cozy crime international hit Bright Minds – aka Astrid et Raphaëlle – which recently triumphed at the French TV Export Awards.
HBO Max’s local original Privilèges will also feature. It is a psychological thriller set in a luxury hotel. Writer-directors Marie Monge and Vladimir de Fontenay, along with stars Manon Bresh and Melvil Poupaud, will be in Paris to represent the Zazi Films-produced show
Call My Agent star Nicolas Maury will also be in town. He will be seen in Netflix’s Call My Agent! movie – you read it here first – but in Paris will be focusing on Les Saisons (Seasons being the Anglo title), his TV directorial debut. Set in the early 1990s and for broadcaster Arte, it tells the story of a love triangle that spans three decades and starts with an encounter at a seaside resort.
Another drama in the spotlight is Surface, a drama about a Parisian cop reassigned to a small town police station where she becomes immersed in a missing persons case from years past. The show is for public broadcaster France Televisions and based on the bestseller by Olivier Norek.
Events in Paris come at an interesting moment for the French TV business. Cozy crime series such as Bright Minds, L’Art Du Crime, Tropiques Criminels and TF1’s High Intellectual Potential are selling well, but the TV animation sector, traditionally very strong in France, is stuck in reverse. The same, meanwhile, is not the case in film, where animation is faring well, as illustrated in the latest box office figures, which were released yesterday.
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