Five months before the start of the 2024 Olympic Games, there is activity in Paris.
But the capital has already been preparing to host the competition for several years.
Quickly, catering for the athletes and their entourage became a real concern for the organizers.
And the solution found was to requisition the Cité du cinéma, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), to install “the largest restaurant in the world”.
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Consequently, all its occupants (studios, audiovisual production houses, film sets and cinema, sound and photography trade schools) were forced to leave the premises before January.
Among them is Kabo Family, a company producing
Scènes deménages
and
En famille
, which has been in the premises since 2016. Stéphane Moatti, deputy general manager, agreed to tell us more.
Also read: From writing to filming, how a Household Scenes sketch is created
TV MAGAZINE. - When and how did you learn that you would have to leave the Cité du cinéma?
Stéphane MOATTI.
-
We learned the information a year and a half ago from Studios de Paris, which operated the part of the studios at the Cité du cinéma and with whom we had a sublease contract.
To my knowledge, they were the subject of requisition and eviction by the organizing committee of the Olympic Games.
How did you react when you heard the news?
We made a bit of a “gulp”.
It's always complicated when you're doing industrial fiction to experience shocks and have to find alternatives because you can't stop shooting, you have to keep delivering.
Our priority was not to destabilize the production flow of
Household Scenes
and En
famille
.
What were the options considered?
We quickly understood that we would not find a single solution to accommodate the two series, so we thought about several hypotheses, made several diagrams and finally we ended up differentiating the studios of
Scènes de famille
and En
famille
.
Furthermore, these are series that cannot be relocated because of the actors' schedules and the fact that we are 100% in the studio, it would have made no sense to finance a studio in the provinces.
So the circle in which we had to find an answer was necessarily in Paris.
From experience, we knew a little about the different existing resources.
There, we started to look at all the hypotheses, we didn't rule out anything, including finding a wasteland that we would have transformed.
“We went from the equivalent of three floors of more than 2500 m² to two floors of less than 2000 m²”
Stéphane Moatti, deputy general manager of Kabo Family
What solutions were chosen?
The town hall of Saint-Denis was very attached to the fact that we started
Scènes de households
at the EMGP, then that we moved to the Studio du Lendit and finally to La Cité du cinéma, so they were keen to keep us.
We then opted for Studios de la Montjoie.
This solution emerged quite quickly because we filmed a season of
En famille
and
Our best years
there , which will most likely be broadcast this year on M6.
In addition, you had to find a partner with whom you had joint interests.
A few years ago, offering the possibility to a studio of having a long-term contract, a long-term series, was a real advantage.
Today, with the arrival of platforms, there are quite a few series that are shot in studios and the studios, due to the attractiveness of international credit, favor shorter-term productions.
La Montjoie was interested in welcoming us, in securing us over time since they do other things and they have a development program.
Also read “I bite myself so as not to laugh”: behind the scenes of the filming of the special Household Scenes evening celebrating the 35th anniversary of M6
What were the biggest changes with this move?
We went from the equivalent of three floors of more than 2500 m² to two floors of less than 2000 m².
But we have not reduced our decorations, they are completely identical, the configuration of the sets allows us to optimize the decorations.
And we had to take offices 200 m away for the production, the writing, directing, preparation and post-production teams.
The Montjoie state of mind is very different.
La Cité are large studios inspired by the Anglo-Saxon style with dressing rooms on one side and stages on the other.
La Montjoie is a little more old-fashioned, it's a little cocoon, everyone is very tight, and it recreates a good group dynamic.
Where are the sets of
En famille
installed now?
This year,
En famille
is located in the Kremlin-Bicêtre Studios (Val-de-Marne).
We moved away, but we went where we have a solution.
At some point, you have to make do with what you find!
We are in discussions to know if we stay there or if we go elsewhere, we don't know yet.
The difference between
Household Scenes
and
Family is that we shoot
Household Scenes
all year round
and therefore once we install the sets, we don't move them.
As a family
, we shoot 2/3 of the year so we often have to dismantle the sets.
Do you plan to return to the Cité du cinéma if possible?
Moving costs a lot of money and is often a bit traumatic.
In this case, it was not done smoothly and it was very complex.
Fortunately we had the support of M6.
Did the channel support you financially?
Yes completely.
We are co-producers of
Scènes de households
and
En famille
, we know each other very well, we are real partners.
We talked to them about it in advance and there was real financial support, without which it would not have been possible to move.
Did the OCOG provide you with financial assistance for this forced and forced move?
What was complicated for us was that we were sub-lessees so we did not have a direct relationship with the OCOG and we did not benefit from the support measures that the OCOG put in place.
The first recipients were the Paris Studios.
“We are trying to find a slightly more corrosive tone”
Stéphane Moatti, deputy general manager of Kabo Family
How long did it take you to prepare and make this move?
There was a huge amount of preparation time.
It took us six months to find the best solution.
From the moment we agreed on the new location, we began preparing for the move in May, starting at the end of July and settling in in mid-September.
The biggest constraint was obviously on
Household Scenes
.
We finish production at the end of July and start again in mid-September, so that means we had 5-6 weeks to make the move.
How has this move benefited you?
There is an issue that we are increasingly integrating, which is the relationship with eco-production.
To give you an example, we have just shot a series for France 2 called
Rivages
and we have been labeled eco-prod.
We had already been asking ourselves the question of having
Scènes deménages
labeled as an eco-production for some time.
This move was an opportunity for us to anticipate and integrate what will become the norm.
Our objective is to apply to be labeled eco-prod at the end of season 16 which is currently underway.
This includes the materials used for the sets, the transition to LEDs, everything that is managed…
Is the reduction in studio space forcing you to no longer be able to accommodate new couples?
For the moment, the question does not arise.
We are happy with the couples who are on the air.
The issue for us is more about the writing.
We are currently trying to find a slightly more corrosive tone.
We realized, and it was an observation shared with M6, that we had lost a little this tone which is the trademark of
Scènes de households
.
So we're working on it.
Every year, there is a seminar with authors and actors to think about new ideas.
For the moment we are really focusing on the editorial and artistic management of the couples who are in place.
Also read: Marion Game, famous Huguette in Scènes de households, died at the age of 84
In this case, what avenue is being considered for Raymond following the recent death of Marion Game?
Gérard Hernandez asked himself the question of whether he would continue or not, which is entirely legitimate.
We obviously encouraged him to stay and he followed us.
He is a central, iconic, historical character, he has a fundamental contribution to the series.
The idea is certainly not to replace him, on the contrary, but it is to know how we play this couple differently.
There are lots of different tracks.
There's one soon on the air with Gérard Loussine who will play a character who gets stepped on all the time.
He comes to see Raymond to ask him for advice on how to stop being martyred.
We will soon be shooting a scene with a generational difference which will be quite tasty.
In the prime
Plans sur la comet
, broadcast on January 29, there is a nice wink at the end where Raymond evokes his own comet, speaking in a very modest and very pretty way about Huguette.
It was a desire of the production, it suited it really well.
While talking with M6, we suggested it to him, he also found it very nice, he really liked it.