Love Is All, a series with offbeat and colorful characters, halfway between comedy and drama, invites the viewer to follow Marco Delgado, a porn actor at the end of his career, in his search for love. Diana Bartha, Head of Sales & Acquisitions at Wild Bunch TV, tells us why she believed in this project and wants to take it beyond French borders.
Unifrance: How did the project come about?
Diana Bartha: Love Is All is OCS Signature's next orginal project. Supervised by the showrunner Fred Hazan, present in front of and behind the camera, the series sports a superb cast, notably Clémentine Célarié and Gérard Jugnot.
Wild Bunch's modus operandi naturally attracts bold projects that challenge and enjoy disrupting the system – we quickly got along with the creators and that's how we found Love Is All.
Could you pitch the series, in a few sentences?
DB: Marco Delgado, whose real name is Marc Guttman, has made a career in porn. A modest career, and hard work, which is coming to an end. To make ends meet, he works as a bouncer in a pub where he indulges in his main activity, drinking. But for some time, Marco has been experiencing strange fainting fits, he collapses for a yes or for a no, becomes inanimate, as if struck by lightning. He is then diagnosed with a very strange and rare illness: Marco needs love. If he doesn't find this will not get up again.
What makes Love Is All special? What are its particular strengths that will appeal to an international audience?
DB: When this project was brought to our attention, we were very intrigued. We loved the unique perspective on the underbelly of the porn industry and its emotional aspects, which are not well known. We are confident that the relevance and universality of the existential crisis our main character goes through, presented from a very particular point of view, will resonate across cultures. Comedy is on the rise in a period of doubt and crisis when people are increasingly looking for this format at the crossroads of comedy and drama. Love Is All ticked all the boxes!
What are your ambitions for the program internationally?
DB: Our strategy at Wild Bunch TV is to sell the original series in as many countries as possible. We are extremely optimistic as we see a growing demand for humorous and daring programs. We then plan to conclude with the sale of the adaptation rights.
You presented the series at the pitch session of Coming Next from France, which took place during the Series Mania Forum. What are your impressions after this session? Do you already have contacts or leads for exporting the series?
DB: We have had great responses directly by the public, other producers and distributors, but especially by buyers. It's interesting to note that the first request came from Russia... I would say that the world needs to laugh, beyond nationalities! Laughter brings us together and unites us in our humanity. But I have hope in the fact that Love Is All.
