Recently nominated for an International Emmy® Awards in the Comedy category, the parody series Le Flambeau : Les Aventuriers de Chupacabra, written and directed by Jonathan Cohen, produced by Entre 2 & 4 and Making Prod, and distributed internationally by STUDIOCANAL, has already embarked on an excellent international career. Stéphane Drouet, co-producer of the series at Making Prod and Beatriz Campos, SVP Global Sales and Production Financing at STUDIOCANAL, tell us about the keys to its success, proving that comedy can also transcend borders.
Unifrance : Can you tell us about the genesis of the project?
Stéphane Drouet: After the fantastic success of La Flamme on Canal+ in 2020, we wanted to continue the series with a new reality TV universe to parody. The main objective of the first season was to use the codes of dating shows to create a fictional story embodied by characters with their own trajectory, facing all sorts of twists. With Le Flambeau, we wanted to try something different from the first season by exploring a new type of environment: adventure reality shows. It's such a rich universe, with a huge comedy potential. We were pretty sure we could move our iconic characters into it while keeping what made them funny and endearing in season 1.
Could you sum up the series' pitch, in a few sentences?
In this new season of La Flamme Marc is part of a team of adventurers trying to survive on the heavenly island of Chupacabra. A new adventure begins for Marc. But this time, the rules have changed: he’s just one of several competitors who must survive on this wild island. Among many other surprises, Marc finds himself facing some familiar faces… Who will be eliminated first?
What makes this series unique? What are its strengths that will appeal to an international audience?
This series could never have existed without Jonathan Cohen, who oversaw the entire project, from writing to directing and, of course, as an actor in the iconic role of Marc. Thanks to him, a star-studded cast has joined the project to give life to very special characters in the best possible way. We firmly believe that it's thanks to Jonathan’s dedication and distinctive sense of humor that Le Flambeau is absolutely unique.
Both seasons have been an immediate success with more than 100 million views on Canal+. Furthermore, we believe that we have been able to reach such a large audience partly because the series creates a fictional universe inspired by international pop culture. The codes of reality TV are global, which is the reason why a fictional parody of it can be understood by everyone and appealing to an international audience.
How did international sales go? Has being shortlisted for the International Emmy® Awards opened doors for you?
Beatriz Campos : We are very excited by the amount of different homes the series has found internationally and the great reception it has received so far. La Flamme has had a wide reach all over world from Asia, Middle East, Europe and North America. We are over the moon with this nomination as a lot of work has gone into positioning the series into the global market but it's also a statement of the quality of the series, how clever the adaptation is and the amazing bouquet of talents attached. Lastly, we are extremely pleased to witness that even though comedy is a tough genre to export... this series is an example that humour, if well written, can travel and perform internationally. With two seasons in the catalogue, this nomination comes at the perfect time to continue exporting this comedy to even more places.
