French drama of the year( 6 x 52’ ) + ( 8x52’ ) coming

Synopsis ...................................................................................................................p.2

Concept ....................................................................................................................p.3

Ratings .....................................................................................................................p.4

Press & Awards ........................................................................................................p.5

Episodes ...................................................................................................................p.6-7

Director’s treatment ..................................................................................................p.8-9

Photos ......................................................................................................................p.10-11

CONTENTS

CONCEPT

This series is about a brigade, but not of soldiers.

In fact, the army had better watch out : when it comes to adrenalin, risk, passion, competition, generosity, firing, flirting and putting in the boot, this brigade is every bit as good.

The brigade in question comprises the kitchen staff of a Michelin starred restaurant in Paris : the Chef, his second in command, the station chefs (meat, vegetables, fish), the pastry cook, the juniors, the apprentices, the dishwashers... all with their own inter-connecting or conflicting stories, experiences, dreams and passions.

CHEFS follows the collective and individual adventures of its members.

It’s a choral piece in which the combined fortunes of the group are dominated by the trajectory of one character : Romain, a 25-year-old locksmith convicted of fraud, whose sentence is reduced when his probation officer finds him a job in the kitchens of a big restaurant.

Here he meets the Chef, the giant of French gastronomy, who takes on a young offender every year in memory of his own youthful indiscretions.

CHEFS focuses mainly on Romain’s awakening to the world, to the culinary arts and to love. But it’s also an initiation story, detailing his ultimate and meteoric rise to success after a decidedly tricky start.

CHEFS is a major, mainstream, modern, singular and universal French drama series, rooted in social reality.

SYNOPSIS Romain, a 25 year-old locksmith imprisoned for fraud, gets his sentence reduced. His probation officer has found him a job in the kitchen of a famous restaurant.

The Chef, a monster of French gastronomy, saves a spot every year in his staff for an ex-convict, in fond memory of his own youth’s mistakes.

This is the beginning of Romain’s awakening to the world ; to the art of food, to love, but also a story of his struggle to belong, his rite of passage, though at first difficult, preceding his lightening rise to success.

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PRESS

AWARDS

RATINGS

1st prime time / Episodes 1&2 : 4,6 million viewers / 17,9 % market share2nd prime time / Episodes 3&4 : 4,2 million viewers / 16 % market share3rd prime time / Episodes 5&6 : 4,4 million viewers / 17,3 % market share

over 50 average / 19,9% WPDM <50 average / 16,3% under 50 average / 13,4%

“ An excellent polar at the French style ” - Télé Loisirs

“ Chefs, a three-star series ” - Télé 7 jours

“ Chefs, a beautiful success. The best show France 2 has offered for a long time ” - Télérama

“ French fiction can teach us a lot ” - Corriere della Serra

Including 550 000 online viewers

(*) Market shares largely beyond France 2 slot average of 2013 & 2014 (13,6 % & 15 %)

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Viewers

4 M

3 M

8.41PM 9.41PM 10.41PM

1st prime time

DRAMA FOOTBALL

Award winning series, won at Luchon Festival 2015Special jury mentionPrize for the most promising actor (Hugo Becker)Public prize for the best series

The press and the public have unanimously acclaimed

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: best launch for a series since January 2012 in France

Audiences curves

4,4 million viewers average / 17,1 % market share average (*)

episode 1

20,2

18,5

13,7

21,4

19,9

15,4

18,2

14,0

12,1

19,5

15,2

13,0

19,0

14,5

12,6

21,8

16,2

14,3

episode 2 episode 3 episode 4 episode 5 episode 6

Targets evolution (market share %)

4 5

EPISODE 4

Romain accidentally kills Lucien, who was attempting once again to recover the money owed to him by the Chef. With the help of Yann, whom he has saved from the gangster’s clutches, he tries to find a way of quickly disposing of the body, which is hidden in the restaurant kitchen, while the police carry out their investigations.

EPISODE 6

The Chef takes advantage of Romain to put together his new menu, without telling him that he has lost taste, and finally returns to the centre of the culinary stage.But it is not enough for Delphine, who wants to show how talented the Chefs is, without being aware of his secret.

EPISODE 5 The Romain/Yann conflict has reached the point of no return. Yann challenges Romain to a culinary dual : an ancient practise in which two battling chefs confront one another over the preparation of a menu, which is then judged. The winner gains the respect of his brigade while the loser has to leave immediately. No one can interfere in the duel. Not even the Chef.

EPISODES

EPISODE 1

In order to reduce his prison sentence, Romain, a 25-year-old locksmith convicted of fraud joins the “kitchen brigade” of a gourmet restaurant led by a talented and charismatic Chef. Coming in as a dishwasher, his first days in his new job are difficult. While suffering the humiliations heaped upon him by Yann, the chef’s second-in-command, Romain learns about another world with almost military codes of conduct.

EPISODE 3

Left for dead by some heavies sent by Lucien, to whom he owes a great deal of money, the Chef is lying in a coma in hospital. The kitchen brigade are in shock ; including Delphine, who is affected more badly than she’d have believed. But life in the restaurant has to carry on.

EPISODE 2 Following a fire he starts in order to sabotage his own restaurant, the Chef has to come to terms with working alongside Delphine, the new restaurant manager sent in by Mr Edouard to modernise the establishment and fix the finances. After an explosive confrontation between the Chef and the businesswoman, their relationship turns into trench warfare.

6 7

DIRECTOR’S TREATMENT

The look and style of CHEFS has remained the same from the outset. They forge the identity of the series in the same way as the stories in the strict sense of the term. I want to shoot the Brigade like an adventure film. To bring energy, passion, tragedy, dreams, lyricism and poetry to a socially realistic, closed and apparently “mundane” world. For me, CHEFS is the story of a boat in a storm, an army in battle, torn apart by issues and passions that are both individual (ambitions, loves, inner demons, the quest for artistic purity, etc) and collective (survival, the growth of the restaurant, the success of a sitting).

Filming and telling the story of CHEFS will be like following the crew of a submarine in World War II, it’s greasy, humid, engine rooms the metallic, hard, brutal kitchens and its plush, civilised wardroom the cocoon-like, refined, aristocratic arena of the dining room. And at its heart, the centre of the restaurant, the ”pass”. The space, the window between the kitchen and the dining room. The command post of the Chef, who checks each dish being “sent out”, wipes down, sends back, chews out and harangues his troops. The Chef, a pirate captain with an eye on everyone: his enemies, his followers and his “heir”…

The treatment of an apparently staid and conventional world in a visceral, powerful way that’s sometimes emotionally disturbing and physically violent will create a series that’s both classic and modern. By adopting a dynamic shooting style, with an emphasis on hand-held camerawork (without over-exaggerating the movements or “dirtying” the image), coupled with sequence shots and a naturalistic approach to the situations and acting style, I want give what we imagine a brutal, hard-edged reality, twisting it and taking in another direction both visually and emotionally…

The soundtrack will also receive special attention. The sounds of the kitchen, the utensils, the burners, the shouts, make a rhythmic music of their own. We’ve even envisaged a kind of savage ritual, a hymn invented by the brigade to greet an important event or a member of the team who deserves special recognition.

The staff break spontaneously into the “Brigade song”, accompanied by clattering whisks, spoons on pans and clashing knives. The Brigade becomes a primitive orchestra, with one voice. The song should be beautiful, rousing and unique.

More generally, the soundtrack will reflect the series, being both modern AND classic... A simple, light, electronic “trip-hop” theme that will reinvent and rearrange the chords and accents of traditional French accordion music and the “realist songs” of the Inter-War years…

I have no qualms about playing with positive archetypes and clichés – the Eiffel Tower, the rooftops of Paris, an accordion tune… why not ! The idea is not only to create a drama, a tragic saga featuring a father and son within a chaotic world, but through it to celebrate a very French passion, this unique relationship with the culinary arts, with the passing on of knowledge and with culture. What’s more French than food ? What’s more French than a Michelin starred restaurant ? We’ll be getting to the heart of French culture, the heart of a land rich in knowledge, emotion, tradition and fantasy. Even better, we’ll be believable. To our own eyes and those of the rest of the world. This is why I’m firmly convinced that CHEFS will be both a great French AND a great modern series.

ARNAUD MALHERBE

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Season 1 : 6X52’Season 2 : 8X52’ coming

CREATED BY

Arnaud Malherbe and Marion Festraëts

WRITTEN BY

Arnaud Malherbe, Marion Festraëts,in collaboration with

Yann Le Nivet, Claire Lemaréchal et Stéphanie Tchou-Cotta

DIRECTED BY

Arnaud Malherbe

A production Calt Production,with the participation of France Télévisions

Associate producer Jean-Yves RobinProduced by Xavier Matthieu

WITH

Le Chef Clovis Cornillac

Romain Hugo Becker

Delphine Anne Charrier

Yann Nicolas Gob

Monsieur Édouard Robin Renucci

Léonie Annie Cordy

Walter Étienne Chicot

Charlène Joyce Bibring

Karim Zinedine Soualem

10 11

8 rue des Bâteliers,

92110 Clichy, FRANCE

TEL: +33 (0)1 81 93 25 00

TEAM

Jean-Yves Robin

President

Pierre Robert

Managing Director

Chloé HORGUES

International Sales Manager

+33 (0)1 81 93 25 50

chloe.horgues@robinco.fr

Thibaud MAISSE

International Sales

+33 (0)1 81 93 25 51

thibaud.maisse@robinco.fr

WEBSITE

http://robinandco.com/calt-distribution/

Pictures credits : Calt / Chistophe Charzat

a Robin&Co Company