Therefore, it is now clear that STAT, manufactured by Ætios, will be missing from next year’s competition. The ICI Télé series won several awards this year, but surprisingly not for best daytime series.
In an interview with Marie-Josée R. Roy, Sophie Lorain spoke of “crooked sampling,” “a system that doesn’t make sense,” and “an organization that doesn’t seem to care” when it comes to twins.
“It was complete nonsense. We won’t be there anymore. It’s over. “You can’t give prices here and there without being consistent in what you give,” the Mégantic producer told my colleague.
When I contacted her on Tuesday, Fabienne Larouche admitted to me that she fully shared Sophie Lorain’s opinion.
“It’s a shame for the artists and craftsmen who truly deserve to be recognized for the excellence of their work, but the Gemini formula has long been problematic, and now it has probably had its day, as the following defectors show,” one after another.
“We have to find a new formula, less political, less expensive and more original,” wrote me the prolific producer, who had long boycotted the competition before returning to it in 2015.
However, this year’s gala was excellent, critically acclaimed and masterfully directed by Pierre-Yves Lord.
But as I wrote that evening, the list of winners reflected several inconsistencies and a glaring lack of judgment on the part of some juries.
How could works like “Indefensible” and “Before the Crash” win the evening’s top prizes without ever having won anything before?
None of this makes any sense.
Lorain and Durand-Brault were the first major producers to leave together, but others had already decided to be there halfway; Guillaume Lspérance did not present “Discussions with my Parents” in the competition – but the comedy still won the audience award – and Fabienne Larouche and Michel Trudeau also did not submit À coeur fluttering, Doute raisonable and Les yeux Shutteres.
Guillaume Lspérance already knows that he will not present François Morency’s comedy next year, but he will continue to submit his other productions.
“I continue to believe that the academy is an important organization and deserves my support,” he said.
However, the producer of “Bye Bye” and “Everyone Talks About” still believes there are far too many categories, even though many of them have disappeared this year.
“For it to be valuable, it has to be rare,” he says of the Gemini awards.
For his part, Attraction’s president and founder, Richard Speer, has not yet made a decision for next year, but has serious concerns about the exorbitant sums – often tens of thousands of dollars – that companies have to pay to work for Gemini while the television industry is in crisis lived through.
“We’re going to have questions to ask ourselves next year,” says the former president of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, who convinced Fabienne Larouche and Julie Snyder to return to the fold.
When he was at the helm of the organization ten years ago, the academy announced that hearing data would be taken into account in the competition.
Like Sophie Lorain, he now believes that this rule penalizes series that are only available on platforms and have not yet been broadcast on television.
He also points out that awarding a twin “is not a guarantee that there will be a show next year.”
For his part, at KOTV, Louis Morissette is seriously thinking about it.
“That’s tens of thousands of dollars that I could use in other ways to thank our teams,” he told me.
On the contrary, other producers surveyed unreservedly stated that they wanted to stay in the race. This is the case of Guy Villeneuve at Fair-Play, which notably produces Les Enfants de la Télé and Révolution.
“We believe it is important to submit every one of our productions, not just those that have a chance of winning. We treat each of our productions the same as we treat all of our children,” he wrote to me.
For his part, Charles Lafortune of Pixcom is convinced that “the selection process needs to be adjusted.” [mieux] communicated. »
“Sometimes the votes are close together. And a winner wins by a few votes,” he explains.
However, the producer of Indefensible confirms that Pixcom will continue to submit its productions to Gémeaux next year.
The new general director of the Academy – Quebec section, Chantal Côté, has been in office for barely a month and appears very open to discussions, but regrets that the dissatisfied producers have not contacted her to express their dissatisfaction.
“I am reaching out to them and inviting them to communicate with me,” she said when contacted.
She goes on to say that this is the ideal time for a discussion as the academy is currently revising the regulations to improve competition.
“I care about the academy and I value the television industry. It’s not the time to separate, it’s the time to stand together,” she said, drawing inspiration from some producers’ speeches at the last gala about current precarity.
Radio-Canada management declined to comment on the dissident producers’ decision.
“The next edition of the Gémeaux Prizes is part of our plans, but nothing has been signed with the Academy regarding this,” Marc Pichette, First Director of Advertising and Public Relations, replied to us by email.
However, it is clear that the broadcaster could re-evaluate its decision if too many players were missing, as was the case in 2005. Canal D and ARTV then took over the broadcast of the evening.
And Radio-Canada no longer has much patience for the controversies surrounding galas; Remember that the public broadcaster canceled the Gala Québec Cinéma that Noovo saved.
This is a shame, because after many years of disagreement, until the twins’ virtual disappearance in 2005, a certain, if fragile, harmony had returned.
However, what caused a lack of understanding was the premature introduction of gender-neutral interpretation categories in order to reduce the number of categories, for which the television industry was never consulted, including when choosing this year’s winners in several categories.
Gemini have survived several crises, but will they survive the crisis brewing today? Especially at a time when the gala situation is weakening?
Let me doubt it. For the big fan of galas that I am, this is anything but reassuring.
Guy A. makes the million
Good start for Tout le monde entalk, which attracted 1,025,000 followers on ICI Télé on Sunday evening.
Returning at 6:30 p.m., Chanteurs maskés still dominates with 1,429,000 viewers on TVA while Révolution retains 985,000.
Double Occupancy has seen better days; The Andalusia edition only attracted 385,000 addicts on Noovo.