Productions Déferlantes is applying a new business model internationally, sharing the villa it has been living in in the Dominican Republic since last year for filming the island of love.
• Also read: Season 3 will air this spring, with Olivier Dion taking the helm the island of love at VAT
Since last week, Sweden has been the first country to film its own version of the Love Island format there.
Swedes settled in Las Terrenas and enjoy a home fully equipped for their needs, an idea that germinated in Montreal.
“It becomes service production. We are not responsible for their content, but we take care of everything related to installation, engineering, sets, logistics, hotel accommodation, etc. Everyone gains financially by working this way,” said Productions Déferlantes President Benoît Clermont on Monday in an interview with the agency QMI.
Once the Swedes have packed their bags, a hundred Quebecers will replace them under the hot Dominican sun for filming the third season of L’île de l’amour, which is scheduled to air on TVA in “refreshed decors” this spring. We’ll also know shortly which humorist will be providing the narration alongside new host Olivier Dion.
PHOTO COUR TESY, Gab Lévesque
The new host of “The Island of Love”, Olivier Dion
Several countries have visited the seaside site, with the complicity of the owner of the Love Island format, the British network ITV, with which Déferlantes has ever closer ties. Mr Clermont and Executive Producer Nancy Charest will go to the Love Island Exchange in the Netherlands in March to promote Las Terranas property, which is owned by an investor.
The challenge is “to align the shooting and broadcast schedules with ours,” said Jean-Philippe Dion, vice president, content and strategy, at Production Déferlantes, in addition to serving as a partner in the company with Mr. Clermont.
The fact that the format is reproduced almost identically worldwide makes sharing the villa easier. “What we are most proud of is that our expertise is showcased in Quebec and we recognize that we can do a lot with little in Quebec. We are very imaginative and produce quality,” said Ms. Charest, returning from Las Terrenas where she hosted the Swedish team.
Established in 2015, Montreal Box also produces the adaptation of the format I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, owned by ITV and renamed Sortez-moi d’ici! in Quebec. Hosted by Jean-Philippe Dion and Alexandre Barrette, this reality show filmed in Costa Rica will air on TVA from Sunday February 19 at 6:30 p.m. Jean-Philippe Dion is also at the helm of La vrai nature, the fifth season of which is in full swing, also on Sundays, an evening increasingly signed by Productions Déferlantes on TVA if we also consider “Masked Singers”.
Work with all networks
Productions Déferlantes has just expanded its mandates with broadcaster Quebecor Media to produce 80 Sucré Salé shows with a new presenter, Mélanie Maynard. It’s also increasingly collaborating with Télé-Québec for its cultural encounters – think Michel Tremblay in Eighty Times and Nelly Arcan – The Fury of What I Think – without closing the door on projects with Radio-Canada and Noovo.
“We put together a development team last summer, particularly with the arrival of France Lauzière who is there as a strategic advisor to think carefully about the paths we can take to develop new modes of production, new niches, new associations and both internationally and in Quebec, stressed Jean-Philippe Dion. We are developing our own intellectual property and formats, things will be announced shortly.”
And do we plan to venture into fiction? “We want to be bigger than Fabienne [Larouche]! joked the producer and presenter. Of course we would like to do that once, but everything in due time.
Almost 30 permanent employees work for Productions Déferlantes, which employs almost 2,000 freelancers in the same year.