Less than three months after the Season 9 finale, the teens of France are back for season 10. This new burst of “real time” sequences, which will form a complete episode to be found every Friday at 6 p.m. on France.tv Slash, is centered around Anaïs, interpreted by Zoé Garcia, and the question of consent, or more precisely of its absence. The phenomenal series with 310 million cumulative views, written under the direction of Déborah Hassoun, once again shows its ability to take on the concerns of young people. Before discovering this Friday the first episode of this season 10, 20 minutes takes stock of the previous season on France.tv Slash with the screenwriter, met at Series Mania, who is signing her last season here.
How did the fans experience the break between Maya and Lola, the emblematic couple of this second MIF?
They lived it as Maya, it was interesting to observe. At first, they were in amazement like her, then in denial, they believed in it when there was a rapprochement. Then they were angry. The anger lasted a long time. Some ended up understanding where we were taking them and what we wanted to say. It was felt that the fans had experienced Maya’s stages emotionally. There was a time when I turned off Twitter during the broadcast, but that was the goal. Some didn’t understand, others did. Me, what I like is to bring debate and reflection, so I’m happy. The heartaches, we live them at 20 years old, but we analyze them at 30 years old. Maybe some will think about it again in ten years!
The “Skam” fan base is very active, do you take their comments into account?
It’s awesome ! It’s an experience as a screenwriter that I will never live again! Some remarks can be taken into account, but it is complicated. If we take them too much into account, it’s inhibiting. It’s not interesting to write what people expect. If I give them what they expect, they will be disappointed. I almost prefer that they are pissed that they find it a little soft. I do this job to create a reflection, a debate, to move forward, and so that they can share their experiences. The idea that they are debating among themselves pleases me a lot.
The theme of romantic breakup may seem trivial compared to previous themes such as HIV or denial of pregnancy, or rape addressed in this new season…
We wanted to try a season that was not societal, with, all the same, ecology in the background, which also tells something about this rupture. But Maya’s character is already very busy: she lost her parents at 11, her father was an alcoholic and drove the car, she was in a home, she was kicked out of her foster family because she is a lesbian. You couldn’t hand him something that fell on him. Maya had never dealt with this grief, she got stuck and something was needed to unblock her. It all felt pretty organic to us. A rupture is an experience lived by many more people than a denial of pregnancy or HIV. There was something universal.
What is the difficulty of having a non-societal theme in terms of writing?
We are on the intimate with the subjective. There’s always something subjective in what you write, but there’s something emotional about it where some people didn’t go through their breakup in the same way. This is where you take the character and wonder why she goes through it in such a hard and sad way? It was necessary for her to heal from mourning, for her to reconnect with her grandmother, for her to stop forgetting and also to remember the good things. It is no longer a universal story, it is that of Maya.
Beyond the breakup, you deal with the question of trauma, anxiety…
the takotsubo is something that really exists. It is very poorly detected in France because it is a disease that we know little about. There are different levels of tako-tsubo. Maya has a small tako-tsubo, which makes sense considering her age. She has an anxiety attack, a latent depression. She is not depressed, but she overcomes a depression of which she is not aware.
We talked a lot about the malaise of young people with the Covid-19, there was all the same a societal dimension…
We wrote season 9 during the 36th lockdown. We thought about it. The societal is there indeed on the state of young people today, even if we did not play the Covid in the series because it was too complicated in terms of masks. There may be young people who no longer believe in it, and at the same time, we have never had such militant young people too, with social networks. This paradox is hyperinteresting, Maya represents that a bit too.
The tone of this season 9 was melancholy…
Totally. The character brings that, each character brings the tone of the season. With Tiff, we really had something possible, quite frontal, of comedy. With Bilal and Jo, we had something quite luminous, despite what was happening to them. Maya is a very introverted character, you have to read through her. That’s why people project quite different things on it. At the beginning, we didn’t necessarily agree on who Maya was, we had to agree. It’s not an easy character because in fiction, we like those who tell stories. It’s easier to write. Melancholy is definitely something that runs through this character, and it’s reinforced by the mise-en-scène. Maya still has a somewhat cynical, somewhat detached sense of humor, but if you couldn’t overdo it, otherwise, it wasn’t her.
And what is the tone of season 10?
The tone is completely different from season 9. Anaïs is the heroine of season 10, played by Zoey Garcia, this character has quite a strong energy. And its energy is the energy of the season.
What can you tell us about this season 10?
We made sure to finish this generation well. We wanted to say goodbye to this generation, we did not leave them aside. Shirley [Monsarrat, la réalisatrice] and I say goodbye to Skam with this season. If there’s a sequel, it won’t be us. We are really very proud of this season, of what it tells and how it tells.
How do you, as an older screenwriter, stay in touch with the concerns of teenagers and their language?
I love that age, so I stay connected in real life and on social media. I follow many accounts. Afterwards, it’s a classic screenwriter’s job to sit in the subway next to the right people to see how they talk. If I made a fiction about artisan bakers, I would go see artisan bakers, I would learn the vocabulary of bread. It’s a bit the same. I have to learn, listen. If a word bothers the actors, they can change it. Afterwards, we don’t put too much slang in the dialogues because it goes out of fashion quickly. We put it when it makes sense with the character, but we must not abuse it. I wish we could watch the show in ten years and it wouldn’t sound corny.