« HPI » : « On a voulu faire du sur-mesure pour Audrey Fleurot »<

« Aujourd'hui, à TF1, il n'y a pas de tabous. Nous ne nous interdisons rien. » La directrice artistique de la fiction du groupe TF1, Anne Viau, doit au lendemain du démarrage de HPI se frotter les mains. Les deux premiers épisodes ont été suivis par 9,3 millions de téléspectateurs (9,8 et 38,4 % de parts de marché pour le premier ; 8,9 millions et 41,9 % de PDA pour le deuxième). Un score au-dessus de l'audience du spectacle des Enfoirés 2021 le 5 mars dernier ! En deuxième semaine, plus de 9,7 millions de fidèles sont revenus. Preuve que que le phénomène va bien au-delà du simple « effet de curiosité ». Soutenue par une vaste campagne de pub à travers la France, cette comédie policière offre le premier rôle à une Audrey Fleurot gouailleuse à souhait dans la peau d'un personnage « atypique » : celui d'une femme de ménage à haut potentiel intellectuel qui va se retrouver à collaborer avec la police pour résoudre des enquêtes. Anne Viau, ancienne scénariste elle-même, croit beaucoup en cette forte personnalité qu'elle estime dans la ligne droite des récents héros mis en avant par la chaîne. Elle aurait tort de douter : les démarrages, voici quelques semaines, de Gloria avec Cécile Bois ou du Remplaçant avec JoeyStarr ont réuni en moyenne plus de 7 millions de curieux. Et on parle même d'une saison 2 pour la série Je te promets. La fiction de TF1 va donc bien, merci. D'ailleurs, une vingtaine de projets sont en préparation. Parmi les plus attendus, Syndrome E, l'adaptation d'un roman de Franck Thilliez, dont Anne Viau nous livre en exclusivité le casting. Ou encore la minisérie fantastique Plan B avec Julie de Bona. Rencontre avec une directrice de la fiction qui jure de vouloir « pousser les curseurs de l'audace ».

Anne Viau : Morgane a 38 ans, trois enfants avec deux pères différents, cinq crédits… C'est une femme de ménage qui n'a pas la langue dans sa poche. Elle est un peu antisociale, un peu allergique à l'autorité. Et elle est surtout dotée d'un haut potentiel intellectuel [d'où le titre ! NDLR]. C'est sûrement l'une des raisons qui fait qu'elle ne s'est jamais vraiment intégrée dans notre société et qu'elle n'arrive pas à garder un travail très longtemps. Et de drôles de circonstances vont l'amener à collaborer avec la police sur des enquêtes.

Antisocial and allergic to authority?How is it an important element?

Let's say she's in tune with the times.She is in touch with the difficulties encountered by the French and she is doing with humor and a lot of second degree.

So it's a new police series?

It is rather a police comedy.With an original way of approaching surveys, via the sharp intelligence of a character.His duo with Commander Caradec played by Mehdi Nebbou, who is as psychorigid as she is earthy, is very tasty.HPI corresponds completely to the DNA of our fictions today.

En quoi Morgane s'inscrit-elle dans la lignée des héroïnes de TF1 ?

At TF1, our primary mission is to highlight extremely strong, atypical heroes, which we remember.So we have different faces with their singularity, like Audrey Fleurot who brought a lot to the character of Morgane, Isabelle Nanty (Munch) or Tomer Sisley (Balthazar)… It's a gallery of actors for whom we wanted to do-measure.

The freedom of tone of Morgane recalls that of Captain Marleau (Corinne Masiero).Is it a coincidence?

With his banter, Morgane Alvaro is especially in line with other colorful characters that we already have on TF1 like Sam (Natacha Lindinger) or "the replacement" embodied by JoeyStarr.She says out loud what we think low.She is like us in "more, more".We are better.

Why not install more irreverent comic series on your antenna, such as the channel+flame, for example?

I find HPI is quite irreverent.Our comedies are frankly assumed and quite offbeat sometimes.

Precisely, daring question, how far can you go?What are your limits?

I think there are no limits.We have great freedom today.What characterizes our choices is the desire to stand out, to create the event ...

Pourtant, on a l'impression qu'une série comme La Promesse, certes plus noire que les séries de TF1 d'il y a quelques années, aurait été plus rugueuse encore sur Canal+…

(She laughs.) On the promise, I do not see how we could have gone further ... Besides, the public came en masse and did not drop the series.We brought together more than 7.1 million viewers on average.

Could the series, the series you had co-signed as a screenwriter for Canal+ in 2010, have its place in your grid today?

It all depends on the treatment, but there are few things that hold us.There are no taboos.Besides, in the fighters, whose filming we are going to start, one of the heroines is prostitute and works in a brothel.

Question realization, we still sometimes notice supported effects.We feel that you are concerned with not leaving anyone on the side of the road ...

You know, the viewer is more and more demanding, he is more and more educated in terms of fiction.But, yes, the fiction of TF1 must seduce the greatest number: it is popular, family, generalist and unifying.

Also read "TF1 has no equivalent in Europe"

How do you explain that the public is increasingly turning to French fictions at the expense of American series?

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I see two reasons.Today there is a strong upmarket, a premiumization of the offer with a desire to push the cursors and to explore different genres.And then, I think the public feeds a real appetite for the "local" with series that resemble us and talk about our concerns, in an increasingly globalized society.

This "premiumization" gives a stroke of old to series like Joséphine, Guardian Angel or Camping Paradis.Are you not tempted to end it?

Of course not, they are part of TF1.I think these two series work like Proust madeleines.The public grew up with them.They are dear to the heart of our viewers.They work very well in summer in replay. Nous allons d'ailleurs tourner la 100^e aventure de Joséphine.

From audacity, you had it by taking the risk of installing two soap operas belongs to us and here it all starts, on the strategic niche of the access prime time [before the 20 hour news, editor's note].What assessment do you draw from it?

I am delighted with the success of these two soaps.Tomorrow belongs to us is a leader on its tranche with an average of 3.8 million viewers every night.And with here it all starts, we have won more than 20 points on the target of 15-24 year olds.These serials allow us to create a dialogue between parents and children on subjects such as harassment, homophobia or violence against women.ITC [here it all starts, note], it's a bit of the new Beverly Hills.It is a real phenomenon among young people who often returns in top tweet [the term which designates the most commented subjects on Twitter, editor's note].And this, without ever excluding parents.This is exactly what we are looking to do at TF1.

Read also "La Promise": why the new TF1 series is a hit

Les jeunes sont aujourd'hui une cible très prisée. Votre stratégie porte-t-elle ses fruits ?

Our fictions often exceed 30-40 % of market share on young targets.I am very attached to the idea of seducing this more volatile, but also more demanding audience, which consumes a lot of fictions.This is why we emphasize the series for Young Adults, as will be the case with Fugueuse, who tells as a young girl of good family finds herself to prostitute herself out of love.It is above all proof that traditional television that was said to be Moribonde remains unifying.

Élisabeth Moreno, the Minister Delegate responsible for equality between women and men, diversity and equal opportunities, recently praised the inclusion values carried out here it all begins.Is this recognition important for you?

Yes of course.It is essential that our programs make mentalities evolve.We have transgender, homosexual characters ... I remind you that already a wonderful family staged a gay wedding [in 2013, editor's note].Soon, we will broadcast he is with Odile Vuillemin and Jonathan Zaccaï, who addresses the subject of dysphoria of the genre.We want to stay in line with the company and also participate in changing mentalities.

Adapting, it is not just translated the scenarios and turning.Anne Viau, artistic director of the fiction of the TF1 group

We often criticize you for multiplying the adaptations of series to original creations.What do you respond to this controversy?

(She smiles.) Ah, I am told about it every time!I am quite uninhibited on the subject.I do not think that the red bracelets, Sam or even I promise would have met the same success if we had released the series from which they are adapted.You know, adapt, it is not limited to translating the scenarios and turning.I do not oppose original adaptations and creations.And then we have a substantial catalog of original creations with, among others, HPI, Munch, the Promise, Balthazar or even syndrome.

Syndrome E is just one of the most anticipated TF1 series.Can you tell us a little more?

This is the adaptation of Franck Thilliez's first novel in which his two investigators Sharko and Hennebelle meet.This minister will be carried out by Laure de Butler to whom we owe the promise.The shooting begins soon, and I will also reveal the casting to you.The two heroes will be embodied by Vincent Elbaz and Jennifer Decker of the Comédie-Française.And around them, you will find Emmanuelle Béart, Kool Shen, Michèle Bernier, Richard Bohringer, Anne Charrier, Bérengère Krief, Dominique Blanc, Samy Seghir and Marius Colucci.A five -star, popular casting, from all universes.

You will soon broadcast a French affair which returns to the affair of Petit Grégory.Will recent advances in the survey change something?

No, that will not change anything, because what we wanted to do is above all telling this drama from the point of view of a gendarme and a journalist.It is more a reflection on an era and its drifts in the media treatment of judicial affairs.We did it with respect for the victims and the protagonists.Everything that is told in this series is taken from statements, testimonies and minutes.There is especially no question of taking sides.

Read also "I promise you": the secrets of a risky adaptation

Après l'énorme succès du Bazar de la charité en 2019, à quand une nouvelle série en costumes ?

As I told you, we are going to shoot a new historic series, the fighters.The idea is to dust the genre a little, to bring modernity and to make parallels with current issues, especially on the female condition.History takes place during the First World War and follows the fate of four women, a nun, a prostitute, an industry captain and a young nurse who will replace the men who left.With Camille Lou, Audrey Fleurot, Julie de Bona and Sofia Essaïdi.

The cast is very much like that of the charity bazaar.You are not afraid to bored the public and kill the surprise effect by using certain artists too frequently?

The idea is to find these three heroines in a new tormented period of history, it is at the heart of the concept of this collection ... These are also actresses that we love a lot, with whom we have a privileged relationship.But we turn with many other actresses, such as Cécile Bois, Mathilde Seigner, Mariloul Berry, Muriel Robin, Sylvie Testud… Our panel is very wide.Now it's true that TF1 wants to be a talent nursery.Yes, we like to make comedians grow that we have seen born, as is the case with Camille Lou, Clément Rémiens or Julie de Bona.We do the same with the authors and directors.

When you read a glowing tweet from Stephen King on the mantle he could see on Netflix, it's true that we are delighted.Anne Viau

Do you envisage new partnerships with Netflix or other platforms?

The collaboration with Netflix on the bazaar of charity was fruitful and made it possible to make a French creation shine around the world.It is important to publicize our know-how out of our borders.When we read a complimentary tweet of Stephen King on the mantle, which he could see on Netflix, it is true that we are delighted.We remain of course open to other collaborations with platforms, if the project is of course ready.

Does not the preview of some of your fictions on the French Salto platform does not harm your audiences too much?

(She smiles.) No, on the contrary, it operates word of mouth.It's virtuous.We are often present in the top 10 of Salto.And that did not prevent Gloria or the promise from making audience boxes on our antenna.

What series do you like on competing channels?

I look at a lot of series (she laughs) and I don't hide it, I really like the legendary office, but also a French village or do not do this, don't do that.

Yves Rénier left us on April 24.Can we say that he was an emblematic actor of TF1?

Yes, we had privileged relationships with him.Thanks to Commissioner Moulin of course, but also many other fictions, such as Dolmen.He had also made Jacqueline Sauvage and recently still hunting [on the Fourniret case, editor's note].He was still on the air a few days ago in an episode of Léo Mattéï.We are sad.With his laughter, his humor and his positions, he will miss the public.