Villa Albertine, the CNC (the French National Center of Cinema), the\u202fSoci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Auteurs et\u202fCompositeurs\u202fDramatiques\u202f(Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers, SACD), and the Writers Guild Foundation will launch an incubator for French TV series in Fall 2021 in Los Angeles, the epicenter of film and TV in the United States. The goal of this new program is to support writers as they develop TV projects with high potential for international adaptation and distribution.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n
The residency will take place over a period of three consecutive weeks and will welcome seven French writers. Tailored to each writer and conducted in English, the program will offer participants guidance from well-known screenwriters and showrunners, script specialists, public speaking coaches, agents, and other production, distribution, and regulation professionals. Each resident writer will be paired with a Hollywood mentor with whom they will work one-on-one to develop their project. Group visits to studios and production companies, as well as opportunities for networking, will also be on the agenda. By the end of the residency, the projects will be ready to be presented to potential American partners like producers, TV studios, and distributors.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n
Thanks to the personalized guidance from showrunners, producers, and experienced professionals, Boulevard des S\u00e9ries will offer its resident writers the necessary tools to deliver a pilot script that is on par with international standards and demonstrates a strong artistic vision and direction. Additionally, the program will support participants’ international careers by introducing them to key industry contacts who will be able to advise them on both the creative process and best business practices.\u202f<\/p>\n
Season One Selection Committee<\/u>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n For this first edition, a call for submissions was open from April 20-May 20, 2021 and generated 58 applications. The selection committee, comprised of <\/strong>Katie Buckland<\/strong>, Executive Director, The Writers Guild Foundation; Kymber Allen<\/strong>, Executive Consultant, Writers Guild of America West; Olivier Pouponneau<\/strong>, Writer; Djiby Badiane<\/strong>, Writer; Emmanuelle Guilbart<\/strong>, Joint CEO, About Premium Content; and Emmanuelle Bouilhaguet<\/strong>, CEO, TOP-The Oligarchs Productions reviewed the applications and selected 6 projects for the Los Angeles Residency Program.\u00a0<\/p>\n Season One Participants (October 11-29, 2021)<\/u>\u202f \u00a0<\/strong> FRIENDLY<\/strong><\/em>, an LGBTQ parenting dramedy – Co-created & co-written by Maxime Berthemy<\/strong> & Julien Anscutter<\/strong> Maxime Berthemy<\/strong> has a Master\u2019s Degree in English and Media Studies, for which he spent a year studying at NYU. In France, he attended the French cinema school La F\u00e9mis where he studied TV writing and showrunning. Maxime most recently has been the writer\/showrunner for the eighth, ninth, and tenth seasons of the French procedural Profilage <\/em>(2015-2020), which is currently airing on Amazon Prime Video and was at one point the highest-rated TV series in France. In 2020, Maxime joined OVNI(s)<\/em>, a half-hour sci-fi comedy about a real-life office investigating UFOs in the 1970s. Maxime is currently working with the two creators of the show to write the 12-episode second season. Concurrently, Maxime co-wrote the short film First Goodbyes<\/em> with director Mathilde Profit, which has received numerous prizes, including the prestigious Prix Jean Vigo, and has been nominated for a C\u00e9sar Award.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n CHAINS<\/strong><\/em>, a period slave-era drama – Created and written by Alain Moreau<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 SARAJEVO, A SIEGE<\/strong><\/em>, a historical war drama – Created and written by Jean-Baptiste Delafon<\/strong> \u00a0<\/p>\n SWEET SIXTY<\/strong><\/em>, a female-centered dramedy – Co-created and co-written y Noe\u0301mie Saglio<\/strong> and Julien Teisseire <\/strong>Seasoned writer\/director No\u00e9mie Saglio<\/strong> joined forces with writer Julien Teisseire to create Sweet Sixty<\/em>, a savvy dramedy centered around the lives of a group of vivacious women over 60. Before that, the two teamed up for the romcom series The Hook Up Plan<\/em> for and currently airing on Netflix, of which a third season is in the works and due out this winter. No\u00e9mie also co-created and co-directed Connasse <\/em>(The Parisian Bitch), a comedy for Canal+. The series became so successful that the feature film adaptation Connasse, Princesse des Coeurs<\/em>, based on the original concept, was also produced. Following the success of Connasse <\/em>, No\u00e9mie co-wrote and directed three more feature films: Toute Premi\u00e8re Fois, Telle M\u00e8re, Telle Fille<\/em> and, most recently, Parents d\u2019\u00c9l\u00e8ves,<\/em> all well received in the French market.\u00a0<\/p>\n Julien Teisseire<\/strong> has a passion for screenwriting that led him to the French TV series Profilage, <\/em>theFrench equivalent of Criminal Minds<\/em>, where he became Head of Storytelling. He worked on thriller projects including Pi\u00e9g\u00e9s <\/em>for TF1 before corssing paths with writer\/director No\u00e9mie Saglio. Together, they created the romcom series The Hook Up Plan<\/em> for Netflix and even co-directed an episode. He was also the French consultant for the upcoming second season of Darren Star\u2019s Emmy nominated Netflix series Emily in Paris<\/em>. Currently, Julien is focused on creating a number of new series, with emphasis on a comedy, a fantasy, and a biopic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
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YOURS TRULY<\/em><\/strong>, a family spy comedy – Created and written by Chloe\u0301 Marc\u0327ais<\/strong>
Chlo\u00e9 Mar\u00e7ais<\/strong>, a seasoned head screenwriter for French television for the past 20 years, has written and co-written for dozens of primetime dramas, thrillers, and comedies, most recently the French adaptation of the BBC series The Wrong Mans,<\/em> produced by Calt Studio and BBC for STAR, the content hub within the Disney+ streaming service. The show is currently shooting in Belgium, France, and Morocco. Mar\u00e7ais co-created the series Le Rempla\u00e7ant<\/em> which had a strong debut this past spring in France, and she recently completed creating, co-producing, and writing the pilot and arcs for the new series A French Family<\/em> with Haut et Court TV.\u00a0
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Julien Anscutter <\/strong>dreamt of writing for television since he was a teenager, and in 2014, started to work on his dream when he enrolled in the French film school La F\u00e9mis with an emphasis in television. After spending some time in the corporate world,\u00a0 Julien has written episodes for several French TV shows, including the lauded Ch\u00e9rif <\/em>and Profilage<\/em>. During the past few years, Julien has worked on the first season of the sci-fi comedy UFO(s)<\/em> on Canal+ and has co-written several episodes of the crime-comedy HPI<\/em>, airing on TF1. In 2020, Julien began to work with his friend Maxime Berthemy on Friendly<\/em>, a comedy centered on the LGBTQ community. He is currently working on the second season of HPI<\/em> in addition to several personal projects.<\/p>\n
\nAfter graduating in film studies followed by a short stint working in film distribution, Alain Moreau <\/strong>embarked on a writing career. Between 2015 and 2017, he created several sketches for France 2, the public national television channel, for their popular sketch-comedy show, Parents Mode d\u2019Emploi.<\/em> Moreau was subsequently awarded multiple writing grants\u00a0 for series creation and feature films. From 2018-2019, Moreau attended La F\u00e9mis\u2019 TV Series Writing Course, a one-year postgraduate program, and then moved on to the teen soap opera Ici Tout Commence<\/em> as a staff writer focusing on dialogue. Most recently Moreau has been hired to co-write a French-Russian miniseries set during World War II. He also recently joined the writing team of Parallels <\/em>(season 2), the Disney+ Original fantasy teen drama. Currently, two of Moreau\u2019s TV series projects are currently being submitted to broadcasters: Chains<\/em>, a one-hour, 8-episode drama set during the slavery era, and Agn\u00e8s & Luis<\/em>, a half-hour, 10-episode dramedy about two elderly people rediscovering love.\u00a0
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Jean-Baptiste Delafon<\/strong> is the co-creator, writer, and producer of the Emmy-nominated series Baron noir <\/em>(2016-2020), currently available on Amazon Prime Video, and has written for the popular series Maison Close<\/em> (2010)\u2014both Canal+ Originals. His feature film credits include the French teen comedy 16 ans ou presque,<\/em> a story about a prominent 34 year-old French political activist suffering from \u2018Late Teen Crisis Disorder\u2019 and directed by Tristan S\u00e9gu\u00e9la. Les Promesses<\/em>, starring Isabelle Huppert as the mayor of a Parisian suburb, has recently been selected for a major international film festival and will be released theatrically in early 2022.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n