With their romantic comedy series project Morning, Paris!, creator Quentin Lee and producer Thomas Buchwalder will return as part of the five jury selected cohort teams of the second phase of the Canada-France Series Lab, a joint venture by Series Mania Forum, Telefilm Canada, and the CNC, in partnership with the French Embassy in Canada, the Embassy of Canada in France and the Canada Media Fund. The Lab’s main goal is to encourage and facilitate co-productions of audiovisual fiction series between Canadian and French producers. The Canada-France Series Lab offers them new meeting opportunities and fosters the development of projects with strong international potential in a competitive environment.
The 2024-2025 edition is made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Alberta Film Commission, the Alliance des producteurs francophone du Canada, the Black Screen Office, the Canadian Media Producers Association, the Indigenous Screen Office, Ontario Creates and l’Union syndicale de la production audiovisuelle.
“I am very grateful to have been part of the selection process along with such great jury members. I wish the selected projects all the best for their further development process and cannot wait to see them come to life.”
— Aude Albano, Producer and Head of Series, Pathé and member of the jury
“Shaftesbury has produced over 30 international co-productions, and it has proven to be one of the most productive ways to get shows made. Being part of this jury allows Shaftesbury to continue to hear new voices and be actively involved in this great France/Canada partnership.”
— Christina Fon, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Scripted Content, Shaftesbury and member of the jury
“I am impressed by the diversity and originality of the projects selected for this year’s Canada-France Séries Lab, as well as the passion and enthusiasm of the producers. We look forward to seeing their development and evolution when they are presented at Séries Mania next March.”
— Cynthia Kennedy, International TV Executive, and member of the jury
Morning, Paris! is a half hour romantic comedy series about an ambitious fashion design assistant in Vancouver, who is slighted by her boss, accepting an unlikely proposal from a security guard, who has a crush on her, to break into Paris Fashion Week by hook or by crook.
Lee first developed Morning, Paris! as a Chinese feature back in 2014 as part of the Golden Horse Feature Film Project Market. They also met Thomas Buchwalder of Cactus Films then and discussed working together. The feature ultimately fell apart during prep in 2015 due to an investor dropout in the financing. In March of 2024, as a Canadian Screen Awards winning creator, Lee re-developed Morning, Paris! into a Canada-France co-production series and brought it to the preliminary phase of the Canada-France Series Lab of Series Mania. They also regrouped with French producer Thomas Buchwalder of Cactus Films who most recently produced the Netflix limited series Transatlantic.
“In 2014, I had the pleasure of meeting Quentin in Los Angeles at a Destination France event hosted by the French Consulate. We expressed a mutual desire to collaborate in the future when the right project comes along.” said Thomas Buchwalder of Cactus Films. “I am thrilled that we now have the opportunity to work together on Morning, Paris! and participate in the Canada France Series Lab at Series Mania.”
Besides Buchwalder, Lee took the opportunity to regroup with the original casting director, Swan Pham, (Luc Besson’s go-to casting director) and César-nominated and Palme d’Or winning costume designer Chattoune (Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, Dheepan) who have both worked on the original Morning, Paris! feature and are now on board to cast and design the series in development. In addition, Lee has attached award winning Italian and American cinematographer and his Television Academy colleague Valentina Caniglia onboard to lens the series.
Lee will also continue to work with Swiss-based company Largo.ai, a pioneer in introducing AI to the audiovisual industry, and its data and analyses to shape the development of Morning, Paris!
For its second edition, the Canada-France Series Lab will take place online and in person from September 2024 to March 2025. The program is opened to pairs of French and Canadian co-producers who are developing an audiovisual fiction series together and wish to be supported in its creative and financing structuration and presentation to the global market. On the agenda: professional workshop in Canada (September 29 – October 2, 2024), online mentoring and training sessions (September 2024 – March 2025), pitch session and meetings with decision-makers at the Series Mania Forum (March 25-27, 2025).
“A prestigious and intense program which offers the possibility of discovering the actors, opportunities and challenges of the co-production of series between France and Canada.”
— Tatiana Maksimenko, producer, Effervescence Fiction, participant in the first edition of the Canada-France Séries Lab
Find out more about Canada-France Series Lab on seriesmania.com!
