“Each day filmed is a day saved.
"We are walking on a wire."
"A permanent headache and dilemma" ... Atmosphere on the sets of series and TV films.
They have certainly resumed their activity this summer by integrating draconian health measures.
But always with the threat that the Covid-19 will not invite itself.
Since June 1, 164 television drama productions have joined the special compensation fund, including 29 for an interruption of filming, according to the CNC (National Cinema Center).
And that's without counting those who did not ask for it.
Of the twenty or so creations launched since the start of the school year, France Télévisions no longer counts temporary stops for two days, a week, or even more, as a precautionary measure.
“Only two shootings were spared,” one emphasizes.
“Astrid and Raphaëlle” or the next series “La Faute à Rousseau”, “Les Invisibles”, “30 Vies”, “J'ai menti”, “L'Absente” were thus slowed down in their tracks.
Just like the “Germinal” co-production, based on the work of Emile Zola.
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The production of an unpublished "Alex Hugo", it was stopped a month, before restarting at the end of November.
“We shot two episodes without any problem while being very respectful of sanitary measures.
And we had the first positive cases for Covid on the third.
We thought we would continue.
However, after new tests, there were still some, explains Delphine Wautier, producer of the mountain series of France 2 with Samuel Le Bihan.
We thought about the best according to the sets, the availability of the actors, and we preferred to stop for a month to all resume this November 30.
"
"A dialogue 5 cm from one of our actresses"
Same setback for season 3 of "Purple Rivers", where the cameras are filming again after two weeks at a standstill and six positive cases in key positions.
“It takes two consecutive negative tests for people to come back.
If they are replaceable, we exfilter them and we continue by changing the work plan.
There, it was impossible and we had to stop, ”confirms producer Thomas Anargyros, also president of the Union Syndicale de la Production Audiovisuelle.
Near Lille (North), the new “Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie” 70s version also took a 4-day break, time to track down the director, the partner and the makeup-dressers of a northern actor who fell ill.
"He had played a dialogue 5 cm from one of our main actresses and attended the dressing rooms, the canteen before being tested positive the next day", indicates the producer Sophie Revil ... Who also had to suspend a week "The Amour fuzzy ”, future Canal + series, one of the heroes of which was in contact with him.
“We apply the precautionary principle.
At first, we tore our hair out.
From now on, one becomes a philosopher.
However, there are fewer worries lately, ”positive the professional.
Among the fifteen series and telefilms in progress for TF1, "Le Saut du diable" or "Un Homme d'honneur" had two to four days of break, and a contact case was detected on the French version of "Luther" .
On the other hand, the two daily soap operas "Here everything begins" and "Tomorrow belongs to us" have so far avoided the cut.
Ditto for “Scenes of households”, on M 6. Or “Un si grand Soleil”, on France 2, which however was not spared with two positive cases among the actors.
“One warned during his vacation and we shifted his sequences until he became negative again.
Another was playing: eight of his partners emptied the set a week, says producer Toma de Matteis.
We have such a mass of episodes to make that we can pause scenes and shoot others.
We have the chance to work by circumventing the pitfalls, by being inventive ”.
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The production of “Plus belle la Vie” on France 3, it even used “deepfake”, a special effects technique, to compensate for the absence of a performer, whose face was placed digitally on the body. of an artist it well present.
An additional cost that can climb to 20%
But who says filming in the middle of the pandemic also says unsuspected problems during confinement.
“The closing of the stores was a concern in terms of dressing our actors, finding decorative elements,” continues Toma de Matteis.
Often the costume designer goes shopping and fittings with the actors.
There, the Internet worked by ordering several sizes to get the right one!
Nor is it easy to manage travel and accommodation for teams when there are fewer trains and when hotels do not offer catering.
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If the additional cost is estimated at 5 to 10%, or even up to 20%, compared to a usual shoot, there is no question of giving up for the producers. "Despite the pressure, the necessary constraints and the risks, they manage to set up the shooting conditions every day", also greets Olivier Wotling, director of Arte's fiction. In production, his series "Nona and her daughters", "La Corde" and the television film "Chevrotine" have so far passed between the drops.