Amazon Prime Video France is catching up with this popular comedy franchise, such as “Lol: Last One Laughing,” but streamers are tempted beyond historic men’s ketting bases, inviting more women and younger protests with new romances, and prominent adaptations of well-known books by writers such as Virgy Despentes and Joel Dicker.
Speaking to variety ahead of the lineup presentation at the Swank Paris event on Thursday, Thomas Dubois, head of France and Japan at Amazon MGM Studios, unpacked the streamer’s plan to not only balance comedy, new romances and prestige dramas, but also try new things.
“It’s really about invading new territory and promoting new faces that we can continue to nurture the talented comedy family we’ve built and keep pushing boundaries, whether we’re in front or behind the camera.”
Prime Video has been “doubled” in the series and is a hit show inspired by the real-life events behind the French adaptation of “Big Brother” based on the success of the “Cult.”
The platform launches “Glam Squad,” a six-episode series of original ideas from filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski, starring Jodie Foster World’s latest film “Vie Privée,” which premiered in Cannes at the film. Zlotowski co-written the series, and Wild Diamond, which made its feature debut at Cannes last year, competed and co-directed with Agathe Riedinger. “Glam Squad” features a cast of “New Faces carefully selected by Zlotowski.” Dubois mentions Antonia Buresi, Lucie Goudeau, Natacha Krief and Arcadi Radef.
Zlotowski previously created “Les Sauvages.” This showed off the emerging talent that was a huge success, particularly Dali Bensalah, Sofiane Zermani and Souheila Yacoub. “Glam Squad” follows the exhilarating adventures of four young beauty experts with strong personalities who work closely with the stars, from Paris Fashion Week to the Cannes Film Festival.
Prime Video also develops a pair of original projects based on the works of highly acclaimed authors: Joel Dicker’s bestseller “Un Animal Sauvage” and Virginie Despentes’ “Picked by Les Jolies” in a series created and co-written by Clara Levy, with “Culte” in previous credits. Benjamin Eralph’s Moonshaker (“Goldman Incident”) is produced on Babylonian Hill.
To attract female audiences, French Prime Video France will take advantage of new romance trends, following previous international hits such as the “Calpamia” trilogy and the German series “Maxton Hall.” As previously announced, the streamer employs “Campus Drivers” based on the CS Quill five-volume series. This will begin filming next month with a cast led by Carmen Kassovitz (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon) and Baptist Macerine (The Nude, The Mixture). The “Campus Driver,” produced by the label of Empreinte Digitale, was directed by Tom Goris and Vianney Lebasque.Dubois, and said that “Campus Driver” aims to leverage the large fan community around these novels.
Another new romance project in the pipeline is “Toi + Moi – Seuls Contre tous.” This is the film adaptation of Emma Green’s “Toi + Moi,” which began filming in August with promising actors Vittoria de Savoia and Lucas Barski. It is produced by Alain Attal’s Tresor Films (“Beating Hearts”) label and is directed by first-time female director Manon Gaurin.
Another trend that Prime Video has jumped in is the survival movie genre. Banner commissioned a new film entitled “Temptto,” directed by Edouard Salie (“Les Sentinels”) to confront the background of a huge storm that struck France in December 1999, killing dozens of people. The story revolves around Chloe, a visually impervious teenager. The visually impervious teenager rebels against her overly protective mother and attends a party hosted by high school heartslove, Erwan. However, the party turns into a disaster as the storm leaves Ewan and Chloe is left in the darkness. The film is produced by Banijay Company, run by Alexia de Laroche-Joubert, and costumed Vodka & Caramel. Erwan’s role is played by influencer Bach Buquen, who has over 10 million followers on Tiktok. “He’s a huge social media star,” DuBois said. “He named himself within two years, both in France and abroad. All the brands are fighting him and we identify as having great potential.”
Bach Bukkien
The executive noted that Prime Video has previously worked with influencers in several formats. In particular, the film “McWalter” starring Mr. V, who has 6.4 million subscribers on his YouTube channel.
“We want to bring together different worlds, work with experienced producers who are experts in our field, and bring fresh faces and influencers who have a community on social media,” DuBois said.
Another film on the streamer’s roster is Mourad Winter’s crime comedy Les Batards, set in Paris in the 1990s. The film is directed by Mourad Winter and produced by the label Iconoclast. Florence Forest stars as a pimp, along with the cast that includes Kado Melado, Hakim Jemmiri, Laura Felpin and Benjamin Tranier.
Prime Video will also remain the biggest destination for comedy, following “Lol: Last One Laughing,” “Comedy Class,” and “Liar’s Club,” which have been adapted to over 20 territories. The streamer has announced the cast for the spinoff “Lol in Reel Life,” featuring six celebrity contestants, including singer Clara Lukani and actor Frank Dubos.
Also, in the unscripted comedy space, Prime Video showed the first image from the six-part series, “Tout Simplement Fan,” which reunites Dup Eric Judor and Ramzy Bedia. The original format pranks fans by inviting them to a week of what appears to be the “Zorro” series by Spanish Jador and Vedia. The hybrid show, woven in several fiction, has invited strong cast members such as Laurent Lafitte, Neils Schneider, Jean Pascal Zadi and Melha Bedia. Dubois said the level of cast coincided with Prime Video’s ambitions, offering premium unscripted, which stands out from what Linear TV is doing.
Speaking of talent with a huge following among younger audiences, Prime Video has starred as himself a new series, Paul, directed and starring Paul Mirabel. The fictional story sees Paul Mirabel suffering from a lack of inspiration six weeks before he takes to the stage for his next one-man show. “To rediscover it, he decided to embark on a rather unusual experience of defeating a path he didn’t expect. It’s hilarious, but moving,” DuBois said. Produced on the Iconoclast label, “Paul” was co-written by Mourad Winter, Paul Mirabel, Yoann Gromb and Nathanael Munnich.
In terms of acquisitions, Prime Video has announced the picks for “Tale of Two Cities.” This is a new four-part adaptation of Charles Dickens’ literary classics starring Kit Harrington, François Cerking and Millen Mac.
