Franck Thilliez Adaptation ‘Syndrome E’ Hits Biarritz as Newen Connect Drives Sales

Lise Pedersen French animation studio Parmi Les Lucioles has sealed a pre-sales deal with Canal+ for its 26-minute TV special pitched at this week’s Cartoon Forum in Toulouse, southern France. “Gouti’s Great Journey,” by writer-director Benedicte Galup (“Kirikou and the Wild Beasts,” “Adama”) is an adaptation of the comic book “Le Grand Voyage de Gouti” by Michel Bussi and Peggy Nille published by Langue au chat. The film tells the story of the Agoutis, a family of small rodents who live in harmony on a dream island untouched by humans. But one day, their island is devastated by a violent storm and the family is forced to leave, leading to a journey into other worlds, other species, and, above all, a journey of self-discovery.  

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent German media group Bertelsmann has put its TV group M6, France’s second-biggest commercial broadcaster, back on the market following its abandoned merger with TF1. Bertelsmann’s chief executive Thomas Rabe told the Financial Times that he has asked to receive non-binding offers by Friday to “test the market” after being “inundated with expressions of interest.” Bertelsmann’s RTL Group owns a 48.3% stake in M6 Among those expected to bid are a consortium of high-profile French entrepreneurs including Rodolphe Saadé, the French shipping billionaire; Stéphane Courbit, chairman of TV powerhouse Banijay; and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, chairman of the investment vehicle Fimalac, Variety has confirmed.

European giant Bertelsmann has put M6 up for sale following the collapse of the French broadcaster’s merger with TF1.

When he’s not making films like “The Cabin In The Woods” or “Bad Times At The El Royale,” Drew Goddard puts his signature on TV shows of all kinds. And over the years, he’s left his mark on shows as diverse as “Alias,” “Lost,” “Daredevil,” and “The Good Place.” Now he looks to do it again with ABC and a pilot of a French detective series the network picked up the rights to last week.

Lise Pedersen Leading Dutch animation studio Submarine (“They Shot the Piano Player,” “Fox and Hare,” “Where is Anne Frank”) has presented its latest TV series project based on the bestselling Max children’s books at Europe’s industry event for TV series-in-the-making in the south-eastern French city of Toulouse. A pre-school series of 52 seven-minute episodes, “Max” is a character-driven show about a small kitten with a large appetite for adventure, who sees himself as a fearless predator but is just a little ball of fluff. The series will embrace the simple, clear and colourful 2D aesthetic of award-winning British author and illustrator Ed Vere to allow the viewer to focus on the characters. 

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor The American French Film Festival, formerly known as COLCOA, will kick off Oct. 10 with the North American premiere of docudrama “Notre-Dame on Fire,” from “Quest for Fire” director Jean-Jacques Annaud. The weeklong festival at the DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles closes with Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th,” about a cold case where the only certainty is the night it occurred. Moll will also be the focus of the festival’s annual “Focus on a Filmmaker.” “Every year, The American French Film Festival presents the very best of French cinema and television, and this year is no exception. I am personally excited about the opening night selection of Jean-Jacques Annaud’s ‘Notre-Dame on Fire’ as I think it perfectly embodies the Franco-American Cultural Fund’s mission,” said Andrea Berloff, writer and board member of the Franco-American Cultural Fund.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter ABC has ordered a drama pilot from Drew Goddard based on the French series “HPI.” The news comes less than a week after it was reported that ABC Signature had acquired the English language adaptation rights to the series. The official series logline reads, “A single mom with three kids and an exceptional mind helps solve an unsolvable crime when she rearranges some evidence during her shift as a cleaner for the police department. When they discover she has a knack for putting things in order because of her high intellectual potential she is brought on as a consultant to work with a by-the-book seasoned detective, and together they form an unusual and unstoppable team.”

ABC has given a pilot order to a character-based procedural drama from top TV and film writer Drew Goddard (Daredevil, The Martian) and ABC Signature, where Goddard and his Goddard Textiles are based.

EXCLUSIVE: Vince Marcello (The Kissing Booth trilogy) is set to showrun and executive produce Diva, a new drama series inspired by the exploits of real-life French heroine Julie d’Aubigny, from iGeneration Studios. Marcello co-created the series with Max Benitz — who will serve as its head writer — and will also direct a portion of its episodes.

EXCLUSIVE: ZAG, the French-U.S. animation studio behind Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, has launched a streaming content unit, and lined up its first project.

The merger of French broadcasters TF1 and M6 has been abandoned.

EXCLUSIVE: ABC is developing a character-based procedural drama from top TV and film writer Drew Goddard (Daredevil, The Martian) and ABC Signature where Goddard and his Goddard Textiles are based. I hear the project, based on TF1’s popular detective series HIP (High Intellectual Potential), has been a standout and is looking good for a fall “second cycle” round of pilot pickups, which ABC is planning. According to sources, the network has an early, mid-October script delivery date deadline for a few projects that are in more advanced stages of development to contend for about 2-3 pilot orders. The Drew Goddard drama, which is considered a frontrunner for a spot, is targeted for the 2023-24 season.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios, has acquired English language adaptation rights to TF1’s hit detective show “HIP (High Intellectual Potential).” The U.S. adaptation is currently in development, and a showrunner, writing team and cast will be announced at a later stage. The original series, created by Alice Chegaray-Breugnot, Stéphane Carrié and Nicolas Jean, and starring Audrey Fleurot (“Intouchables”) and Mehdi Nebbou (“Serial (Bad) Weddings”), has been one of the most successful French-language shows on French TV in the last 10 years. Produced by Mediawan-owned Septembre Productions, and Itinéraire Productions, a UGC company, the series has been sold to more than 105 territories and has garnered more than 175 million views globally to date. A Czech and Slovakian version have already been filmed for Nova and Markiza respectively and are expected to launch soon.

Kourtney Kardashian is not a fan of fast food. The reality star is known for having a healthy lifestyle and a strict diet, and when it comes to her kids, it seems Kourtney also wants them to make healthier choices.Kourtney’s 12-year-old son Mason Disick recently asked his mom for some McDonald’s french fries, however he didn’t receive the answer he wanted to hear, as she explained during an interview to the Wall Street Journal, when asked if her kids were being “deprived” of junk food.“Today I was having one on one time with my son and he said, ‘Mom, I need McDonald’s french fries today, please.

Related: Jean-Luc Godard: ‘Film is over. What to do?’ Born in Paris in 1930, Godard grew up and went to school in Nyon, on the banks of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

Trinidad Barleycorn The setting: a small resort, Les Cimes, in the Swiss Alps, a stone’s throw from the French border. The moment: the end of ski season, tourists have left, time seems to be suspended. The plot: a corpse is found, tied up, with an edelweiss in its mouth. The protagonist: Captain Sterenn Peiry (Marina Hands) leads the investigation. She still mourns her 15-year-old daughter, killed three years before in an avalanche. So much for the beginning of “Off Season” (Hors saison), a Franco-Swiss police series, produced by Akka Films, Gaumont Television with RTS and France Télévisions, and beautifully filmed in CinémaScope by Pierre Monnard. This thrilling six-part series, presented to buyers at the French TV market Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Biarritz, is best in class in the art of constantly misleading the viewer. From the very first minutes, the plot thickens: a second corpse, found in the same gloomy setting, but on the French side, makes the shadow of a serial killer lurk on Les Cimes and brings into the game French policeman Lyes Bouaouni (the excellent Sofiane Zermani, a.k.a. the rapper Fianso). When a third layer is added: Sterenn’s son kills his girlfriend and flees the scene. We are left wondering: how far can a mother go to save her only child?

EXCLUSIVE: Director Joachim Hedén (Breaking Surface) is underway in Belgium on shark attack thriller The Last Breath, written by Nick Saltrese (Prayer Before Dawn).