Nearly sixty Québec-based television industry professionals will be participating in the Series Mania Forum in Lille, France, between March 19 and 21, under the SODEC Québec Creates banner.
Organized by SODEC in collaboration with Bell Media, Radio-Canada, Quebecor Content and TV5 Unis, Coming Next From Québec invites you to discover seven original series ready to be launched on the international market.
Contact:
Suzane Landry
Vice President, Content Development, Programming and News
suzane.landry@bellmedia.ca
Creators: Jeanne Leblanc (Director), Sarah-Maude Beauchesne and Nicola Morel (Writers), Suzie Bouchard (collaboration on scripts)
Representatives on site: Annie Sirois (Producer), Sarah-Maude Beauchesne (Writer and Actress)
Sales contact: Annie Sirois (Partner and Producer), Julia Langlois (Partner and Producer, Fiction), Trio Orange | asirois@trioorange.com – jlanglois@trioorange.com
Synopsis: Belflower is a series that delves into the heart of a group of guys grappling with the complex realities of today’s life. We follow Nicolas, who, having lost his role as a stepfather after a breakup, returns to his hometown to reunite with his high school friends. Together, they navigate this new phase of their lives, where parental responsibilities and social expectations are questioned. This series offers a refreshing and sincere look at the challenges and joys of modern masculinity.
Creators: Marie-Claude Blouin and Félix Tétreault (Directors), Pierre-Marc Drouin and Pascale Renaud-Hébert (Writers)
Representatives on site: Patrick Martin (Content Producer), Pierre-Marc Drouin (Writer)
Sales contact: Tim Mutimer (Chief Executive Officer), James Durie (Head of Scripted TV), Cineflix Rights | tmutimer@cineflix.com – jdurie@cineflix.com
Synopsis: After the death of their father, whom they had disowned, the heirs of a wealthy businessman must undergo a series of trials to lay claim to his $84 million fortune. However, the troubling trials will reveal dark aspects of their family history and sow chaos by bringing past wounds to the surface. Through the trials and memories, they revert to the children they once were. Even in death, Paul-Émile de Léry still holds sway over them.
Creators: Ricardo Trogi (Director), Frédéric Pierre, Catherine Souffront and Angelo Cadet (Writers)
Representatives on site: Frédéric Pierre (Producer and Writer), Mia Desroches (Distributor)
Sales contact: Mia Desroches (Vice-Presidente, Global Global Sales & Partnerships), Ko Distribution | mdesroches@kotv.ca
Synopsis: The story of a couple caught between two generations. On one hand, that of their children, born in Quebec. And on the other, their parents, born in Haiti, attached to their roots and their traditional expectations. At the dawn of their forties, Myrlande and Henri dare to chart their own course.
Creators: Isabelle Garneau and Jean-François Chagnon (Directors), Marc Brunet (Writer)
Representatives on site: Marc Brunet (Writer), Anne Dorval (Actress)
Sales contact: Mélanie Ratté (Vice President, International Distribution and Business Development), Zone3 | mratte@zone3.ca
Synopsis: In this hysterical spoof of reality TV classics like Big Brother, four fame-hungry youths battle to become the ultimate influencer. Brigitte, the unscrupulous producer, and host of the show, plunges the wannabe internet stars into a series of extreme situations where they must face off in wacky challenges, defy social conventions and compete to win virtual glory. Legends of Likes is a hilarious homage to the glorification of chasing online clout at all costs.
Contact:
Sylvie Langlois
Director, Acquisitions, Entertainment Formats & International Development
Sylvie.Langlois@tva.ca
Creators: Yan Lanouette Turgeon (Director), Gilles Desjardins (Writer)
Representatives on site: Josée Vallée (Producer), Yan Lanouette Turgeon (Writer)
Synopsis: A few months have passed since the end of the Second World War. Jean Thibault, alias IXE-13, formerly the finest agent in Canada’s secret services finds himself reluctantly drawn into a new undercover operation. On one hand, Russian operatives are trying to obtain uranium to build a bomb that would threaten the West. On the other hand, a powerful Nazi group led by Rick Gallaher, also seeks uranium for its plot to conquer the world. His fellow agents Roxane Racicot, Marius Lamouche and Victor Laporte agree to team up with Jean on a perilous mission: infiltrating and dismantling the two networks before the uranium falls into the conspirators’hands. Will they succeed in accomplishing their mission? Based on the legendary published stories that won a huge readership in postwar French Canada, IXE-13 is finally back with a series about the early days of the Cold War in Quebec.
Creators: Yannick Savard (Director), Marie-Ève Bourassa and Maureen Martineau (Writers)
Representatives on site: Caroline Gaudette (Producer), Marie-Eve Bourassa (Writer)
Synopsis: Detective Surprenant investigates the murder of a teenage girl on the Magdalen Islands. He encounters hostility from an investigator dispatched from Quebec City as he seeks to unravel the locals’ secrets to solve the crime.
Contact:
Jérôme Hellio
Head of Content
Jerome.Hellio@tv5.ca
Creators: Marianne Farley (Director), Maxime Beauchamp (Show Runner), Joëlle Bond, Anne-Hélène Prévost, William S. Messier and Camille Trudel (Writers)
Representatives on site: Patrick Bilodeau (Producer), Maxime Beauchamp (Show Runner)
Sales contact: Mia Desroches (Vice-Presidente, Global Sales & Partnerships), Ko Distribution | mdesroches@kotv.ca
Synopsis: Zav, a 17-year-old aspiring hyperpop singer, dreams of breaking into the music industry. Zav has long been questioning his gender identity, but inwardly, as he fears the repercussions of this questioning on his relationships with his family and his smalltown community. His musical quest and his online life allow him to explore his femininity anonymously and vent his dysphoria, but his second life can’t stay hidden forever.
Three Québec series are selected in official competition at the Festival Series Mania Festival (March 15-22, 2024).
Category: International Panorama
Number of episodes: 10
Production: Blachfilms
Script and direction: Benoit Lach
Sales contact: Sylvie Langlois, Director, Acquisitions, Entertainment Formats & International Development, Quebecor Content | Sylvie.Langlois@tva.ca
Synopsis: Ufologist Mark (Antoine Pilon) is convinced that aliens have abducted his younger brother Gabriel, who has been missing for 15 years. With the help of his mother Micheline (Maude Guérin), they collect evidence that he has indeed been abducted by extraterrestrials. His meeting with a mysterious woman named Simone (Hélène Florent) will change the nature of his presumptions. Beyond the human drama, an even greater mystery looms: are we on the brink of an imminent invasion?
Category: Comedy Competition
Number of episodes: 6
Production: Productions St Laurent Web
Script: Bertrand Desrochers, Héloïse Desrochers
Direction: Bertrand Desrochers
Sales contact: Émilie Kara-Godin, Communications and business relations coordinator, Productions St Laurent Web | emiliek@stlaurent.tv
Synopsis: To repay a debt, Emma, 26, starts working at the medieval themed restaurant Peasantries. After a series of strange events, the team wonders: could Emma be the Chosen One predicted by the Prophecy who could save the restaurant?
Category: Short Forms Competition
Number of episodes: 7
Production: Trio Orange
Script: Lex Garcia
Direction: Émilie Mannering
Sales contact: Julia Ferreira Langlois, Associate and fiction Producer, Trio Orange | jlanglois@trioorange.com
Synopsis: Jojo, a widower and single father, divides his time between the barbershop and his sons Olivier and Randy. When his life turned upside down again, he will have no choice but to confront his reality. Inspired by the memories and words of a loving mother, the trio will try to rebuild.
In addition to the series selected for competition, two episodes of the following series will be available for viewing by accredited professionals.
