“We’ve seen plenty of medical dramas and shows about firefighters, but this is a whole new ball game, set in the high mountains with rescue workers taking incredible risks”
– Two producers from the French company Haut et Court TV discuss their project, which was presented at the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions at the Series Mania Forum
A pioneer in the world of high-quality French series distributed internationally with Les Revenants (2012), Haut et Court TV’s recent credits include Mister Spade (for Canal+ and AMC), Constellation (Apple TV+), and the two seasons of No Man’s Land [+see also:
interview: Souheila Yacoub
series profile] (Arte). The Montroc project (6 x 52′) has been selected for the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions at the Series Mania Forum (read the article), held in Lille, where we met Simon Arnal and Clarence De Fontenay, two of the series’ producers (the other two being Caroline Benjo and Eliott Khayat).
Cineuropa: What drew you to the Montroc project?
Clarence De Fontenay: Clément Peny, an author we had previously worked with and were very keen to work with again, came to see us after hearing about the Montroc disaster, an avalanche that struck the village in 1999. He had heard the story recounted by Blaise Agresti, who was then head of the High Mountain Gendarmerie Unit (PGHM) and who was in charge of the rescue operation. Clément quickly wanted to turn it into a series and outlined to us how he envisaged the adaptation. We were immediately won over by the way he wanted to blend extremely powerful human stories – from the perspective of both the victims and the rescuers – with a highly topical environmental theme that hangs over the narrative, and by his foray into a genre new to us: the disaster series.
Simon Arnal: What also appealed to us was the chance to tell the story of people whose calling is to help and save others, even at the cost of their own lives. Medical dramas, shows about firefighters, and stories featuring characters like these are always fascinating. We’ve seen plenty of them, but this is a whole new arena, set in the high mountains, with rescue workers taking incredible risks.
What is the project about?
CDF: On 9 February 1999, an avalanche was reported in Montroc. The series details the ensuing rescue operation from several perspectives. Firstly, that of Blaise Agresti, who organised this extremely difficult rescue operation, as it involved coordinating the deployment of rescue teams, mapping the avalanche and identifying who was present when it occurred in order to determine where to dig. So there is almost a police investigation aspect to it. Next, there is the perspective of the victims, who are trying to survive beneath the snow in pockets of air, and finally the rescue operation itself, which is extremely risky in the high mountains.
SA: Bearing in mind that the very idea and premise of the series is that everything takes place in real time, over the course of a single day between 2 pm and 10 pm. Each one-hour episode will roughly correspond to one hour of real time.
How do you approach the challenge of recreating the complexity of an avalanche and a mountain?
SA: The aim is to create a visually spectacular “outdoor” series. A few weeks ago, we commissioned some AI tests for the wide shots of the buried village and were very impressed by what we saw. So we believe this is entirely feasible, within a very realistic budget. The rescue operation sequences will be filmed in a single location, a standard command centre, and the shots of the survivors trapped under the avalanche can be filmed very easily in a studio.
How is the script coming along? What would be the ideal schedule?
CDF: We’re at the very beginning and we have a series pitch document. Next, we’ll either start writing a pilot episode or develop this pitch document in more detail, bearing in mind that we’d like to get into the heart of the writing process to test the real-time concept and explore the characters a little further. We’re planning to start filming in 2028.
What are your objectives here at Series Mania Forum?
SA: It’s a local, French story, but it’s a universal theme because this sort of event happens all over the world, and particularly in Europe. So our priority is to find a European partner, in Germany, Scandinavia or the UK, for example. The series will also feature non-French characters – tourists, some of whom are victims of the avalanche – so there may be opportunities for foreign actors and partners. Next, we want to see how distributors react to this story and whether they believe it is indeed universal enough to have international appeal.
What other projects does Haut et Court TV have in the pipeline?
CDF: For France Télévisions International, we are set to produce Revolution, a series created by the Iranian writer Ali May and written by Amit Cohen and Ron Leshem (the two writers behind No Man’s Land) in collaboration with the French writer Coline Abert. The story, set in the present day, centres on an Iranian war photographer living in exile in France who, upon learning of the disappearance of his daughter whom he had never met, must return to Iran to save his granddaughter, who is being hunted by the regime. It is an extremely ambitious series that requires us to keep a close eye on current affairs in order to adapt the script to current events. Through flashbacks, the series also offers a glimpse into the past, explaining France’s role in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. It is a series we hope to shoot in early 2027 and which we are co-producing with Spiro Films, one of our partners (there are about ten in total) within the international alliance The Creatives. We will also begin filming a series (as yet untitled) for RTS and Arte this spring. Created by Frédéric Mermoud, it is a thriller set in Switzerland, with filming due to start in the spring. We also have series in development for TV channels and one for a streaming platform.
(Translated from French)
