If it is now acquired that Hauts-de-France is a land of filming, and not only for its germinalesque decorations. If it is no longer to be demonstrated that Lille has become a stronghold of television series with the success of the Series Mania festival. If the audiovisual production ecosystem teems between Roubaix and Tourcoing with the Pôle image and Pictanovo. There was still a little something missing: the training aspect around these professions. This is no longer the case since the inauguration on Tuesday of the Series Mania Institute“the first school entirely dedicated to series”.
It’s a bit of an opportunity that makes the thief explains Laurence Herszberg, the big boss of Mania Series. “There is an important network that has been created and a pre-existing ecosystem in which we have settled with this school. A way of closing the loop around the world of the series, ”she welcomes. The Séries Mania Institute is located right in the center of Lille, close to the new century, emblematic place of the festival since its creation in 2018. A building made available by the European Metropolis of Lille (MEL) for an as yet indefinite period. “The premises risk quickly becoming too small and we don’t have a place to shoot here”, continues Laurence Herszberg. A migration to the image center is already envisaged in the medium term.
A “springboard” for young people in the region
Concretely, the school will offer several courses, starting with the “springboard”, the first promotion of which has already started lessons. This is a free one-year training course, open to young people between the ages of 18 and 25 living in Hauts-de-France. It is an in-depth introduction to all the professions of the series, from writing to post-production, including filming. The first promo has 20 young people, mostly oriented towards the Institute, not local missions, who are working on a horror series project, the pilot of which will be screened at the 2023 festival.
The other training programs are shorter, around 14 weeks, and paid for. The Eureka series, training in series writing for screenwriters and producers, management-oriented training in the audiovisual sector and, to come, a master’s degree in initial training in series writing in partnership with Sciences Po Paris. The Institute also has two incubators, one of them being a little special.
Seasoned filmmakers on the benches of the school
It is indeed aimed at experienced filmmakers attracted by the sirens of the audiovisual sector without knowing how to go about it. “The criterion for entering is to have been selected at least once in one of the major international film festivals. And despite this, we received 170 applications, ”says the boss of Series Mania. Ten have been selected to benefit from this bridge between the big and the small screen, but only three will receive a grant of 50,000 euros to develop their project. If Laurence Herszberg refuses to reveal the names of these filmmakers, she nevertheless confirms that there is heavy, coming from everywhere except the United States. “We don’t want the Americans, they steal all our talents,” she jokes.
The ambition is strong, so much so that the Séries Mania Institute has set itself the goal of training around 500 people per year by 2026. Is this excessive? Probably not, the demand being there. “There is clearly an increase in content needs, particularly for series, and therefore, logically, an increase in training needs,” explains Grégory Tempremant, President of Pictanovo.