Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Billy Wonka (A) on January 22, 2016 at 21:06:23

In Reply to: RE: 'VERSAILLES': Historical soap opera of Louis XIV . . . posted by Billy Wonka on January 22, 2016 at 20:52:09

PARIS—When television and cable executives from around the world gather in Cannes this week, French producer Fabrice Larue will be holding his breath.

Mr. Larue and his co-producers are pushing hard to sell "Versailles," a raunchy series about Louis XIV that they hope will help France become a major exporter of TV shows in a global bazaar largely dominated by U.S. studios.

The show—a modern retelling of the intrigues and scandals at the court of one of the longest-reigning monarchs in European history—is the biggest evidence yet of the push by French producers to compete with blockbuster American TV shows, like "Game of Thrones," that have invaded channels around the globe.

As opposed to the U.S., where studios can often recover costs for big productions faster by selling a series to national channels that reach 100 million pay-television homes, producers in Europe can't amortize costs of a similar size over as large an audience in any one country, making it harder to finance big projects.

To overcome this hurdle, the French team behind "Versailles" decided to take a gamble: They are betting that "Versailles"—filmed in English—will become a global success.

• http://www.wsj.com/articles/french-tv-series-versailles-cour   (Open in New Window)