Gaumont bosses Sidonie Dumas and Christophe Riandee on the future of “Lupine” and “Narcos”, their new Paramount + deal, European expansion and talent deals – MIP TV interview

Exclusive: In a rare double interview, Sidon Dumas, CEO and Deputy CEO of Gaumont, the oldest French film company, tells the story of the transformation of the famous theater business in Europe and beyond.

Gaumont, producer of international shows, including Lupine (One of Netflix’s biggest hits), Narcotic (The first worldwide hit of foreign language streamers), barbarians AND Email the president, currently has television offices in Paris, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Cologne and Rome. The two discuss business growth, their recently announced rolling deal with Paramount +, and what’s next for their successful franchises.

The company, which continues to produce and distribute films, is working on four foreign-language series for Paramount +: Horror Thriller. sign Directed by presenter François Uzan (Lupine); dystopian thriller abandoned future By an Argentine director Lucia Puenzo; German theater Somewhere of the creator Jana Burbach (bad banks); It is a French thriller Influence For Jean-Xavier de Lestrad (Stairs), Antonio Lacombelez (Joy) and Severin Verba (Spiral).

These originals then arrive Gomonti It already has 40 TV projects in various stages of production, including Narcotic Season six (US) barbarians Second Season (Germany), Lupine Third season (France), Injury (UK) for Netflix, Email the president (United States) e Totem (France) along the Amazon, Kaiser Carl (France) for Disney and animated series Still water (USA) for Apple.

EXPIRATION: Tell us, how did the deal with Paramount come about? Why pick them on Netflix or another streamer for this deal?

Cristoforo Riande: Well, we don’t choose them. We choose. Paramount contacted us about six months ago. Since they work all over the world, they look for partners who understand streamers very well and are a limited group of companies like ours that produce shows in Europe, Latin America and the United States that impact globally for them.

Dumas of Sidon: It is very important for us to work with everyone, of course. We started working with Netflix and will continue to do so. There are no exclusive items in the Paramount deal. We manage programs with Netflix, Amazon, Paramount, HBO, Disney, Apple and online broadcasters such as BBC, Sky, TF1, ZDF and more.

EXPIRATION: How are dramas doing with Paramount?

Riandé: Each of our offices has their own authority and a Paramount colleague to talk to. Paramount covers the show from the inside.

EXPIRATION: How profitable is this business for you?

Riande: Significantly profitable, I would say.

EXPIRATION: In a transformative way like this?

Riande: I wouldn’t say that because we have 40 shows in preparation and production, with different streamers in many countries.

EXPIRATION: What is your level of confidence that Paramount + can reach an audience given the competition that exists in the streaming space right now?

Riandé: This is a new player, so I think they are learning from all the other platforms out there. I imagine their solution will be quick as there were a few platforms in front of them.

EXPIRATION: Lupine is one of the greatest, if not the greatest French budget show of all time. Meet Lupine co-creator François Uzan in the thriller The Signal. What about the scope of this show and other shows in the deal?

Riandé: Paramount attracted us because we have a history of creating global successes Narcotic AND barbarians (The second season is in post and we are writing the third season now). Like any other broadcaster, they want local programs for their local countries, with mixed global successes. This is what we want to produce with them. sign It would be a pretty big project if it were shot in French. There is still talk of whether to do it in French or English as the story unfolds on the island. It will be great because there are a lot of effects, decorations, monsters, etc.

EXPIRATION: I’ve noticed that Slate leans towards horror and thriller, but not comedy. After the success of Call My Agent, are you looking for more comedies on French television?

Riande: Like many, we want lighter shows and films, of course, as this is a big trend in today’s market, after a two-year closure. We do a lot of comedies on the theatrical side in France and our goal is to do more comedies on the television side. It wasn’t a market trend four or five years ago, but everyone wants comedy today, so we’re working on it.

EXPIRATION: Shooting for next season of Lupine is underway. How much is the show returnable and can we see the spin-offs?

Riandé: There are spin-offs in the works, but we can’t say much about them. When we finish the third part, we will see how it goes and if we continue. Sure, we’d like to receive more, but Netflix will ultimately make that decision.

EXPIRATION: And how long can Narcos last?

Riande: Six seasons are already proud. We are in discussion because we want to move forward, but no decision has yet been made. As producers, we want to continue, but that decision will also be on Netflix.

EXPIRATION: Can we see the Narcos spin-offs?

Doma: Everything is possible considering the great success it has, but so far nothing has been proven.

EXPIRATION: Gaumont is the oldest film company in the world. Exhibition activity has been an important part of his life for decades. A few years ago he changed his mind to focus on film and television production and focus on preparing programs for streamers. How many Gomon activities are equivalent to television today?

Doma: Television is becoming the most important part of the business. This is natural because we only do shows in France.

Riande: We have more countries that work with television. We also make films for platforms and other companies, but we do not currently make films for cinema in other markets.

Doma: We will keep what we have been doing in France for almost 130 years. We have a tradition that we want to keep. Our bet was not to forget the theatrical or traditional stations.

Riande: We want to consolidate in the markets we have entered. Our UK and Germany size may be slightly larger as we want to do more. We have a lot of news that will be announced in the coming weeks and months. In the UK we are starting a drama series. Injury We already have a lot of news for Netflix and are about to hire people.

EXPIRATION: Where does it make sense to open the next one?

Doma: Spain. This has not been done, but it is the next logical step. We want to be methodical and we want a common level of expertise in all of our areas.

EXPIRATION: Are you going to sign talent and creativity into production deals?

Riandé: What makes sense for creatives. We signed a contract last fall chitman Co-author Armando Bo, with whom we did it Email the president. This is a co-development of series and films.

EXPIRATION: Gaumont US had a tough run a few years ago, including former leader Katie O’Connell’s brutal departure from the march. How’s it going today?

Riandé: It turns out good. Last year we announced a reorganization to bring all US divisions together under one roof and one leadership under Nicholas Atlan: US Live Actions, Latin American Content, Animation and more. Latin America after the success Narcotic AND Email the president.

EXPIRATION: The general balance of the company was questioned a few years ago. His results up to December 2021 looked much better. What’s the perspective?

Riande: Our annual results were recently published. After two years of suffering from Covid (canceled films, postponed shows, extra costs, etc.), at the end of 2021 our results showed a positive P&L. So we are happy with it. The difficult six months were the beginning of Covid, but we were able to develop a lot during the pandemic.

EXPIRATION: And you are still an international sales team, right?

Riandé: There is an international sales team that sells movies and TV, but most of our shows are made by streamers who want the world, so our team is relatively small compared to BBC Worldwide and Sky.

EXPIRATION: Hollywood continues to look to Europe and beyond for acquisition and investment opportunities. You have always been a family business. Do you see what’s happening?

Dumas and Riande: Yup…

EXPIRATION: This is, of course, a fruitful time for international companies. France and French companies are an important part of this …

Riandé: I think it is important to keep in mind that we are not just a French company. We are also a British company, a German company, an Italian company, an American company. We have French roots, but we see each other more globally. We are proud to be French and great supporters of French talent, but we are also proud to have expanded to the rest of the world. We also support German talent, Italian talent. Limits disappear and shows travel more. We are thinking about the beginning of another big change.