Talking to...

What is the series all about?

Bruno Deville: It's a tragicomic fiction series comprising six 45-minute episodes. ESPÈCE MENACÉE is above all a story of emancipation, which central theme questions our capacity to transform ourselves at every level and the need for change that preoccupies us all.  The increasing number of therapies and personal development courses are the tragicomic laboratories of this desire for metamorphosis. These circles, potentially ridiculous from the outside, demonstrate nevertheless a desire for change. In the face of climate change or to change the world, we perhaps need to start by changing ourselves from within. We wanted this question to permeate every character and their concerns: How do we change?  How do you become a couple, a family, or not? How do you grow in friendship? Do you have to lose yourself in order to find yourself?

How did you come up with the idea for the series?

BD: From a photo taken on the 25th December: The image of a ski lift at a standstill, green lawn in the middle of winter, my Belgian friends deciding to cancel their holiday. I think it was back in 2017 or 2018. A Christmas without snow and the absurdity of running snow cannons to keep us humans entertained. There was a LES BRONZÉS NE FONT PLUS DE SKI feel to it, at the same time a little futuristic, but eminently realistic about the contemporary world.

I am also a big fan of French-speaking stand-up and chroniclers like Marina Rollman, Vincent Veillon, Vincent Kucholl, Thomas Wiesel and Yann Marguet. I love their poetic and political view of the world, which shines through with great intelligence and humour. I wanted to write the roles with them in mind, to carve out a suit for them. Audiences know them from their punchlines in short formats. But my intention, in this longer format, was to move them around, to see how we could get attached to them in a different way. I wanted them to make us laugh, but why not shudder or cry, to take them out of their comfort zone.

Did you write the script with several hands?

BD: I had already worked with Marina Rollman on the DOUBLE VIE series with her contributing dialogue and acting. I loved her columns and her sometimes cruel, never moralising humour. We loved working together and so, yes, I very quickly suggested to my long-time friend Léo Maillard and Marina that we should form a trio. She brought a lot of fresh air to our duo and we fed off each other's writing. Artistically, I need the breath of the other to stand back, prune and cut. We get smarter as we interact.

How did the collaboration with RTS come about? Did you need a lot of discussion or did you find common ground straight away?

Pauline Gygax: We are used to working on series with RTS, ESPÈCE being our 5th series coproduced with them. We are sometimes accomplices, we get angry, and then we patch things up again, because at the end of the day I suppose we are all aiming for the same goal: to offer the public the best possible series in our often-tight budget. Over all these years - our first series collaboration dates back to 2008 – we have evolved, gained experience and become more demanding. 

Has the series been broadcast? Are series only possible as coproductions in Switzerland? 

PG: RTS SSR is experimenting with a new broadcasting model for this series, which will be available on the streaming platform PlaySuisse from the day of its premiere in Locarno on August 10, 2024 for one month. The series will then go on to be broadcast on RTS during the period in which the action takes place, i.e. during Carnival (end of February 2025).

For a long time, it was complicated to coproduce series in Western Switzerland because of the contradictory injunction to tell stories about French-speaking Swiss people to a French-speaking Swiss audience, by shooting in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and at the same time to be sufficiently universal to interest international partners. Things have changed and there are more possibilities today. It is now up to us to protect our industry and our talents in these partnerships. Just as we have always done it in the cinema industry.

From the idea to the Locarno premiere: How long did it take from the first sketch to the finished series?

BD: The first idea was born in the winter of 2020. We won the RTS pitching in October 2020 and finished writing in February 2023.

PG: In parallel, the financing started in autumn 2022. Then came the preparation, the shooting over 50 days in June-July-August and finally the post-production until June 2024.

Were there any surprises on the set, which led to the script being adapted or even passages deleted? Or tricks to save scenes because of the weather?

PG: The time frame of a series shoot is a challenge in itself. Most of the time we were shooting on natural, open-air sets, which was a real challenge. The work schedule changed several times depending on the weather. For example, on several occasions we started very early in the morning because the weather forecast predicted thunderstorms in the late afternoon. So, we were able to shoot out of sequence and avoid these storms.

BD: The mountain is a character in itself. Human intervention in nature, the exploitation of the landscape and the issue of water are the underlying ecological themes. We immersed ourselves in this natural setting and its paradoxes. We played with colours and seasonal inversions, for a dystopian note. The image of snow groomers at half-mast or the Aletsch glacier covered in tarpaulins erected by humans to protect it from its own melting, itself accelerated by over-exploitation by tourists. We wanted to make strong statements about this intervention in nature, without making a thesis, but always focusing on busy, entangled humans and their relationships.

PG: Technically, having so many characters on screen is a directorial challenge, but also a production challenge. A change of work plan suddenly impacts on a lot of people, not only the actors, but also all the technical and artistic people involved, particularly the HMC (Dress, Make-up and Hair) who have to turn around quickly, or the stage management. It's a real collective adventure, which in our case demanded great adaptability from the whole team and it was outstanding.

What scene from the shooting will remain an unforgettable memory for you?

BD: A scene on the edge of a mountain lake, an ode to life, with small human gestures. It is an offbeat but touching moment, with something mystical about it. But I don't want to spoil (laughing teasingly ed.).

PG: For me, it is a scene shot with the lead actress (Emilie Charriot), in a Dantesque storm, a semi-improvised scene of rare power, a cinema scene. A few moments of it remain in the edit. Go and find it!

Was it clear to you from the start that there would be six 45-minute episodes? How did you arrive at this format? Was it a joint decision between you, Léo Maillard and Marina Rollman?

BD: From the outset of the project, the very concept of the series was to write for the ‘troupe’ of comedians from this part of the country who shine far beyond our borders. A choral narrative was essential, as was the tone of the comedy and the rhythm of the episodes, supporting the urgency in the face of external climatic elements. We had a strong desire to focus on the Carnival week (one day=one episode). To tell the story of how lives can be transformed against the backdrop of this festival, during which masks can be put on or taken off in a kind of mad freedom. We then played around with this constraint, which offered us creative possibilities by deconstructing the temporality of the story with flashforwards or flashbacks that zoom in on elements of the future or the past to shed more light on the present.

In addition to series, Rita Productions is regularly present with films at international festivals. What is the main difference between producing a series and a film? As a production company, do you take more risks with series than with films? Is it ‘easier’ to bring such a major series project to fruition? 

PG: The main difference between the production of a series and that of a film is the relationship between time, formatting and demands. The enormous competitiveness that exists in film financing is much less in series, where the rules of the game are clearer and therefore more manageable. The series market is a little clearer, and so are the expectations.

I think more and more that these two worlds have a lot to learn from each other. Here in Switzerland the two worlds are very porous, but in most other countries the border is very tight and the people you talk to are totally different. 

On the one hand, the world of series would have everything to gain from a greater demand for editorial, visual and directing skills. On the other hand, the film industry would benefit from a greater diversity of interlocutors, greater clarity in its relationship with the market at a very early stage in its development, a much stronger relationship with reality, with what is concrete, and a certain humility and agility. These two worlds are now coming together thanks to platforms, but we are talking about a very specific type of cinema, not necessarily the one we produce in French-speaking Switzerland.

Your series is full of humour. Was there a particular type of humour needed for the series to work internationally?

BD: In a fairly universal way, we wanted to talk about humanity, as a species threatened by itself, by its system and its own weaknesses. At a time when everything is collapsing, in this isolated ski resort, at a time of greenwashing, we wanted to write a committed comedy. To describe a kind of ‘consolation society’, which would like to create something new without knowing what or how, and of course without losing any of its privileges…

In directing the actors, I pushed them to start from themselves, without mimicking or signalling that we wanted to make people laugh. I like this approach to Anglo-Saxon comedy. When a kind of truth emerges, an honesty in what is being played out, it becomes universal. What could be sharper than comedy to make us think about our paradoxes and compromises?

So, is there a difference between Swiss humour and Belgian humour?

BD: What I felt about this project is that the humour is very divisive. We don't all laugh at the same things, depending on our culture and history. Humour is more divisive than drama. It is easier to be moved together than to laugh at the same joke. Even though in this age of networks, the Internet and globalisation, humour, like many other things, transcends borders. 

Film is a fast-moving business. What new projects are you working on?

BD: A film whose characters, in the midst of an existential crisis, are thinking of leaving Earth and moving to Mars.

PG: Apart from the next feature film that Bruno has just mentioned, we have several 1st or 2nd feature films in development or financing, as well as other fiction series and feature documentaries in development. A dozen projects in all. And from experience, we will be lucky if 7 or 8 of them come to fruition. It's cruel, but it is also the increasingly striking reality of the industry throughout Europe.

Who would you most like to do a project with, if you could choose without constraints?

BD: I would go and shoot on Mars. But as I am scared of flying, so the suburbs of Brussels will do. (he laughs ed.)

PG: I would produce anything with Kristen Stewart. Even a Wingo commercial.