Christophe Riandée

This interview originally appeared in the MIPCOM 2013 issue of World Screen.

Founded in 1895, France’s Gaumont is the world’s oldest movie studio. The company’s vice-CEO, Christophe Riandée, is relaunching its television division and leveraging the legacy, industry connections and association with quality that the Gaumont brand elicits. Riandée has opened Gaumont International Television in Los Angeles. This unit focuses on original ideas as well as iconic characters and so far has produced Hemlock Grove for Netflix and Hannibal for NBC.

WS: What motivated the decision to open a studio in Los Angeles?
RIANDÉE: It was very simple, Sidonie Dumas, the CEO of the company, and I decided five years ago to re-launch the TV business of Gaumont. We realized quite quickly that if we wanted to have a long-term view we needed to produce and distribute programs all over the world. To do that, they needed to be English language and English language means American. So it was clear in our minds that if we wanted to do something really significant, we needed to set up an American company.

WS: What has been your approach to the American market?
RIANDÉE: The American market is complex and competitive but it’s a very evolving market. There are so many new players and those players are so eager to have original content that they are also open to new ways of doing business.

We have approached the markets with a financing model that is completely different from the standard pilot system in the U.S. Basically we are reproducing the independent movie financing model, by combining the money coming from the U.S. with soft money and international presales. Hannibal was the first one to be done under this model.

WS: Is this international co-financing a model you want to use on other projects as well?
RIANDÉE: Yes. More and more broadcasters all over the world are looking for original content. It’s not a question of owning the content, but controlling it in one way or another, partially or totally. That is exactly what Netflix has done on Hemlock Grove. That is also what we are doing with Canal+ on Barbarella. 

WS: What are the creative challenges involved in remaking such an iconic series as Barbarella? Those of us who are old enough remember Jane Fonda in that role. How do you cast the remake?
RIANDÉE: What is strong about Barbarella is the brand, because everybody knows about her without knowing exactly who she is, apart from the fact that she is almost always nude! But nobody has read the original comic book. A few maybe, like you and me, have seen the movie! What is great about Barbarella is that it is a broad canvas. We have to re-invent everything: the story, the mythology, the characters around her and her journey. What we want to achieve is recreating the character and the world and the story while keeping the vintage look and feel of Barbarella. It’s a journey to write the first season. Nicolas Refn, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are in the process of writing the first episodes and the story lines of the first season.

WS: Are there certain genres, perhaps thrillers like Hemlock Grove, that are better suited to a Netflix audience that likes to watch many episodes all at once as opposed to watching them once a week on a regular linear channel?
RIANDÉE: I am not sure that one specific genre is better for binge viewing than another one. I would say that when you love a TV series it’s hard to wait for the next episode. Binge viewing existed a few years ago when you were jumping on the DVD package and wanted to see everything at the same time because when the story is good, when you love the characters, you want to be with them all the time. What I am sure of is that Netflix is responding to a pre-existing demand in the market. I am not sure this is something specific to a certain genre. We produced with them a Gothic thriller, Hemlock Grove. They have something very interesting with House of Cards. They have Arrested Development and Orange is the New Black. Even with the few projects they have ordered they are demonstrating that there is not a specific genre.

WS: Are you tapping into the many relationships Gaumont’s film division has as you build your television division?
RIANDÉE: Of course, that’s what we’ve done with Barbarella and Nicolas Refn. When I went to Bangkok to visit the set of Only God Forgives, the movie we produced recently, I asked him, “What do you think of Barbarella? We just bought the rights and want to make a TV series.” I was just having a professional conversation about what could be the vision or the angle of the movie and instead, he jumped all over me and said, “Don’t tell anyone. I want to do it!” Katie [O’Connell, the CEO of Gaumont International Television] experienced the same thing with Bryan Fuller, who is not in the movie business, when they had the conversation about Hannibal. Eli Roth is someone we weren’t working with but he comes from the movie business and we did his first TV series, Hemlock Grove. And we have a bunch of projects, mainly for the French market and for Europe, that have been originated by movie directors we are working with. There is no difference for us between movies and TV series. If we are working with a director who is ready and willing to do both, we can do both with him. If he is willing to do only TV series, we can do TV series. If he is willing to do only movies, we can do movies. We don’t have a strict separation. Of course, we are using our feature film contacts. More than that we are using our brand. I have the feeling that the brand is so well respected that when there is a TV series or a project produced by Gaumont, people trust the fact that we want to deliver high-quality product.

WS: There has always been a battle between art and commerce: doing something that is great and that will also sell. Are you finding that broadcasters are starting to understand better the requirements for something that is high quality but also commercially viable?
RIANDÉE: With the movies we are producing and the TV series we recently produced, I am not sure it’s either art or business. It’s obviously business because there is a lot of money involved. But if it is also art, I would [use the term] high-quality content instead of art. And high quality is what drives the business. If you want people and audiences to watch your TV series or movies in a world that is so connected, when there are so many screens available, either pay or free, you need to offer something that is really, really, unique. If you produce something that has already been done, or something that is of average quality, audiences will suspect it quite quickly. So the only way to do good business is to produce high-quality content.

WS: What is your growth strategy for Gaumont’s television business over the next two years?
RIANDÉE: Our strategy is to produce a little bit more. We have produced two series, I’d say we are able to produce three to five series a year, but there will probably be years with two or three and I hope years with five. But the key to the future of our business is being global. In this hyper connected world, we need to be global, not only American or international, but global. And global is my obsession!