Netflix Plots French Riviera-Set Daily Soap With Newen Studios, TF1
Cementing its mass media status in France, Netflix is joining forces with leading TV channel TF1 and Newen Studios to co-finance its first ever French daily drama series, “Tout pour la lumière.”
Newen Studios already ranks as a leading producer of daily French drama shows, including “Tomorrow is Ours,” “Where it all begins” and “Life so sweet, even sweeter.” TF1 Group, meanwhile, is the country’s leading commercial channel in terms of ratings.
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“Tout pour la lumière” is a family saga set in the world of music and dance. Filming will begin in the first half of 2025 and will take place in Southern France, in the pittoresque town of La Ciotat, and in the studio lot of La Belle de Mai in Marseille.
The series is written by Coline Assous, Yentl Coubes, and Maxime Cormier. It will be produced by Céline Fran?ois, and overseen by Stéphanie Brémond, deputy general director of continuing drama and long-form series at Newen Studios.
Under the partnership, “Tout pour la lumiere” will launch of Netflix five days before the free-to-air broadcast on TF1, and on its AVOD platform, TF1+.
Pauline Dauvin, VP of content at Netflix France, says the daily series “will allow French Netflix
subscribers to tune in to a daily drama , a first in France.”
“This unique collaboration in production and distribution illustrates our shared commitment to innovate for the enjoyment of viewers and to support artistic creation,” Dauvin says.
Pierre Branco, a former Warner Bros. Discovery executive who recently joined Newen Studios as CEO, says “The launch of such an ambitious new daily series is an exciting project” for the company.”
“We are delighted to bring our expertise in continuing drama to this unique partnership with TF1 and Netflix, aiming to reach and retain a new audience.”
Ara Aprikian, executive VP of content at TF1 Group, says the “partnership with Netflix and Newen Studios will provide a new ambitious local origination and demonstrate once again our ability to find new ways to finance and distribute our projects to give them the widest possible audience.”
The executive, who previously worked with TF1 president Rodolphe Belmer at Canal+ Group, says this “daily drama event series” will allow TF1 to “enrich its content offering in linear and non-linear formats and reasserts its role as a historical partner in content creation.”
Netflix’s move into daily soap is part of the streamer’s strategy to position itself as a mass media outlet in key territories, notably through live content and factual entertainment. Earlier this year, the service boarded its first soap in Spain, ‘Valle Salvaje’, which is produced by Bambú Producciones, and launched in all Spanish-speaking territories.
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