FILM RIGHTS ION OF FRENCH BOOKS AFM 2016 T LOS ANGELES SELEC A DESIGNED BY Line Célo Mathieu Roger-Lacan PRINTED IN USA BY Printex PUBLISHED BY Office for Cultural Affairs and the Creative Industries Consulate General of France in Los Angeles 10390, Santa Monica Blvd Los Angeles CA 90025 [email protected] frenchculture.org THIS PUBLICATION IS SUPPORTED BY Institut français 2 Shoot the Book! L.A. SECOND EDITION Organized by the French Embassy’s Mission for Culture and Higher Education in the United States and the Institut français, Shoot the Book! LA is the US edition of Shoot the Book!, a collective endeavor of French publishers under the banner of the Société Civile des Editeurs de Langue Française (SCELF) and the Bureau Interna- tional de l’Edition Française (BIEF) launched at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Shoot the Book! L.A. was made possible thanks to the support of the SCELF, the CFC (Centre Français du droit de Copie) and the SOFIA (SOciété Française des Intérêts des Auteurs de l’écrit). Shoot the Book! comes to Los Angeles this year again. This second edition is de- signed as a platform to display a selection of titles from France’s front-line publi- shing houses, which have been selected by leading American film professionals for their potential as screen adaptations for film, television and other digital formats. Each book is presented in its main storylines, with a synthesis of key information and the person to contact if you would like to know more. The titles presented by re- presentatives for the Mediatoon Group (Dargaud and Dupuis), the Place des Édi- teurs Group (Belfond and Presses de la Cité), Denoël, Albin Michel and C.A.L. Agency (Plon) offer a varied selection of France’s literary production today, giving an overview of the vitality of the French publishing world, from graphic novels to science-fiction, crime, memoir, drama and comedy. The event will be moderated by Steven Gaydos, Vice-President, Executive Editor, Variety. In connecting French and American professionals in the framework of the American Film Market (AFM), Shoot the Book! L.A. seeks to nourish creative and business links between France and the United States. Members of the Jury Bob Bookman, Senior Motion Picture and Television Agent, Paradigm. Franklin Leonard, Film Executive and Founder of The Black List. Andrea McCall, Senior Vice President, DreamWorks. Howard A. Rodman, President, WGAW. Moderator Steven Gaydos, Vice President, Executive Editor, Variety. 3 Shoot the Book! is based on a call for submissions to all French publishers. Out of the 21 titles presented to the selection committee, 5 titles have been chosen. Each title was represented by one audio-visual rights manager who then chose another title for the pitching session. This booklet introduces the 10 pitched books, organized by representative, and the 16 other titles, organized by publishing house. Pitched Books 8 Albin Michel | The Paris Lawyer – Sylvie Granotier 9 Albin Michel | The Black Line – Jean-Christophe Grangé 10 Denoël | The Deep Sea Diver’s Syndrome – S. Brussolo 11 Denoël | Still Dust Remains – Sandrine Collette 12 Dargaud | Jazz Maynard – Raul & Roger 13 Dupuis | Monika – Barboni & March 14 Belfond | Mary’s Diary – Alexandra Echkenazi 15 Presses de la Cité | Don’t Let Go – Michel Bussi 16 Plon | The Great Silence – Loup Durand 17 Plon | Where the Light Collapses – Guillaume Sire Other Titles 19 Actes Sud | Collector – Olivier Bonnard 20 Au Diable Vauvert | The Rest of Their Life – Jean-Paul Didierlaurent 21 Auteurs d’aujourd’hui | I died Yesterday – Patrick Jaulent 22 Fayard | The Honey Club – Célhia de Lavarène 23 Flammarion | Paris by Night – Pauline Flepp 24 French Pulp Editions | Clash Generation – G. Morris Dumoulin 25 Futuropolis | Genetiks – Marazano & Ponzio 26 Gallimard jeunesse | Aâma – F. Peeters 27 Grasset | The Seventh Function of Language – Laurent Binet 28 Hachette livre | Chasing Sleeping Beauty – C. Féret-Fleury 29 Heloïse d’Ormesson | In Praise of Cellulite and Other Misfortunes – Dominique Dyens 30 Le Lombard | Baghdad Inc. – Desberg & Legrain 31 Rouergue | In the Starlit Meadows – Marie-Sabine Roger 32 L’Olivier/Le Seuil | The Great Mariner – Catherine Poulain 33 Univers Poche | A Breath, a Shade – Christian Carayon 34 Le Verger des Hespérides | The Hidden Monastery – Pierre Stolze Office for Cultural Affairs and the Creative Industries Consulate General of France in Los Angeles 10390 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 410, Los Angeles, CA 90025 [email protected] frenchculture.org 4 ALBIN MICHEL Founded in 1900, Editions Albin Michel boasts a catalogue of over 6,000 working titles and publishes 500 new ones each year. Combining authors of prestige and newly discovered talents, Albin Michel’s cata- logue includes many successful French and foreign authors who, for the most part, also enjoy international recognition. Albin Michel is today one of the most important independent publishing groups in France. DENOËL Since its creation in 1930, Denoël has been publishing diverse literary genres and prestigious authors from the entire world: Louis Aragon, Isaac Asimov, Blaise Cendrars, Robert Crumb, Hans Fallada, Norman Mailer, Curzio Malaparte, Arto Paasilinna, Georges Perec, Sylvia Plath, Jean Rhys, Sempé, Patti Smith and many more. Across different series, Denoël publishes around 50 titles per year: li- terary and commercial fiction, crime stories and thrillers, science fic- tion and fantasy, essays and non-fiction, graphic novels and illustrated books. Denoël is part of the Gallimard Group. DARGAUD & DUPUIS For more than half a century, Dargaud and Dupuis have been writing essential chapters in the history of graphic novels. With Dupuis’ count- less iconic figures – such as Lucky Luke, Spirou, Boule & Bill, The Smurfs, Cédric, Le Petit Spirou, Kid Paddle, and Largo Winch – and the many cult series of Dargaud – such as Valerian, Blueberry, XIII or Achille Talon – both publishing houses have cultivated a passionate pu- blic following. Each year, 5 million Dupuis and 8 million Dargaud comics and graphic novels are sold across the globe and approximately thirty audiovisual adaptation projects are signed. 5 PLACE DES EDITEURS (BELFOND & PRESSES DE LA CITE) Place des Editeurs is an internationally leading group composed of twelve different publishing companies (including Belfond and Presses de la Cité), and covers a wide range of books: international and French fiction, non-fiction, practical guides, illustrated books, travel guides and children’s books. Place des Editeurs is synonymous with international successes. Many of their books have been adapted for screen and TV, such as Harlan Coben’s Tell No One and No Second Chance, Douglas Kennedy’s The Woman in the Fifth starring Ethan Hawke or the Swe- dish bestseller The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. PLON Plon publications, a major player in French publishing since 1852. To enlighten readers on the changes in our society, to provide the keys to better analyse the news, to give a voice to French and foreign litera- ture, to share their enthusiasm and discover “human territories” - these are just a few of the goals of the Plon publications. 6 PITCHED BOOKS SETTING Catherine, a young Parisian lawyer assigned to defend Paris – Creuse (French countryside) a woman accused of poisoning her husband, sees an CHARACTERS old unsolved case resurface: a crime involving her own Female – 30 Male – 55 mother. Male – 45 DETECTIVE NOVEL FILM AND FOREIGN RIGHTS GUIDE Film rights available. PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL AVAILABLE English translation available (American edition) The Paris Lawyer FIND OUT MORE The novel received the Prix du Polar LA RIGOLE DU DIABLE Sang d’Encre 2011 awarded to a SYLVIE GRANOTIER French-language detective novel. Catherine, a young Parisian lawyer, has a murder case to defend. It’s a big step in her budding career, overseen by her kind yet stern and intimidating boss, Maître Renaud. She heads to the scene of the crime in the Creuse region, where she spent her earliest years before her mother’s murder, which obviously continues to haunt her. Her father has never come to terms with his wife’s death and never talks about it. When she was 16 and supposed to be celebrating her high school graduation, her dad brought up her mother’s death. He said she could ask him anything she wanted but, after that, they would never discuss it again. It was then she realized she needed to go away to live her life. She went to Paris to study law. Catherine’s client, Myriam, is an undocumented African immigrant accused of poisoning her husband, Gaston, a farmer she married 6 years earlier. She was his sole heir. His cousins, who’d counted on his inheritance, remembered a jar of cyanide from an abandoned gold mine that had disappeared from Gaston’s barn. They requested an autopsy and learned that Gaston had in fact been poisoned. As Catherine builds her case, she discovers her lover Cedric was once her mother’s lover. For a while, she suspects him of the crime. WHY THIS BOOK? But Cedric actually knows who the killer is and lets her find out for herself. Catherine’s dynamic, en- In the meantime, Catherine gets Myriam acquitted... despite proof of dearing energy fuels the the woman’s guilt. interplay between a grip- Catherine asks her father to take her to the spot where he scattered ping first career move and her mother’s ashes. She gets ahead of him on the path and encounters coming to terms with her Cedric. Convinced he has come to murder her as he did her mother, own terrible and mysterious she tries to run but he catches her. Her father comes to her rescue. past. When the suspense Cedric fights with her father but Catherine bashes him with a rock. As is over, Catherine has final- her father tells her he knows Cedric is her lover too, all of a sudden ly come into her own.