behind the scenes of the television factory

At the gates of Paris, in Seine-Saint-Denis, on a site of seven hectares are more than fifty television studios. Every year, about 100,000 people come to take part in the tapings of shows. That day, Anne-Laure will compete for France 2’s flagship game, Everyone wants to take its place. She is dressed and made up. “I am very impressed by all the work that is done”, she admits. In eight days, 48 ​​programs are recorded. “It becomes absolutely magical, it’s like a movie studio”, says Cyril Féraud, host of the show Slam.

At this location, in the former Plaine Saint-Denis, there were steel and textile warehouses. Then hit by the crisis, the premises reinvented themselves thanks to television and the importation of game shows from the United States. The district has diversified in forty years with the construction of housing, shops and businesses.