Forbidden Tales transposed to the small screen

The Forbidden Tales series of horror books, published by publishing house AdA, will probably be adapted for the small screen by the production house Attraction, which is looking for a broadcaster, has learned The Press. An announcement that will be made this Monday on the sidelines of the Fantasia Festival.

Attraction (Live from the universe, LOL: Who will have the last laugh, The Chiefs !) has acquired the rights to all 42 titles in the horror book series — written by 15 authors — plus upcoming titles, including a tale by Bryan Perro, which is currently being written.

The goal is to adapt the books into English and then release them in 80-90 minute formats on online streaming platforms or specialty channels. Discussions are ongoing with broadcasters, according to Attraction. In some territories, the production house would opt for theatrical releases. The first release is scheduled for 2024-2025.

These adult titles, inspired by popular tales, include among others The beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or Hansel and Gretelby author Yvan Godbout, who was acquitted in 2020 – like the publishing house AdA – for producing child pornography.

Yvan Godbout had described in a passage of his book the sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl by her father. A scene deemed “too explicit” by a teacher, who had filed a complaint against him.

According to Richard Jean-Baptiste, vice-president and executive producer at Attraction, Yvan Godbout’s tale will not be one of the books that could be adapted into a TV movie.

For François Doucet, president of the AdA Group, this announcement is a breath of fresh air, he who is suing the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) for nearly 4 million for “irreparable damage” suffered as a result of the charges related to the case. Hansel and Gretel.

“This is very good news for us,” he told The Press, but as I have often said, the damage has been done. We will never be the same publishing house again. Before, we released 350 books a year, now maybe 75…” Nevertheless, the releases of Forbidden Tales are guaranteed bestsellers. The first printings oscillate between 10,000 and 20,000 copies, says François Doucet.

“Beginning of the process”

On the Attraction side, there are still several threads hanging. The priority is of course to find a broadcaster, but other questions must be clarified. According to Richard Jean-Baptiste, things are starting to become clearer.

In short, Les Contes will be released one at a time in a fairly short period of time. There will be a concern for uniformity for each television adaptation, but probably one director per film. It is not excluded that the author of the tale works on the scenario. As it is not excluded that the scriptwriter or the director is from Quebec.

“We are still at the beginning of the process, we are inspired a little by the model of Tales for all, even if the comparison may seem strange, but we wanted to take advantage of the Fantasia Festival to make this announcement, says Richard Jean-Baptiste. Fans of horror series or films form a very committed community, so we wanted to tell them that there was a cool project coming up. »

With what tale Attraction would he like to start his series? Richard Jean-Baptiste is not yet ready to answer.

The French rights to Forbidden Tales had already been sold in France to Groupe Trédaniel and Éditions Contre-Dires. But Attraction’s agreement with Éditions AdA allows the production company to adapt its films in French.

“Of course our agreement is primarily aimed at the international market, which has a great interest in horror,” says Richard Jean-Baptiste. But the francophone aspect is also of interest to us. We’re exploring all of that. If there is a film release in English, nothing prevents us from having a French version. Same thing if we broadcast on an online broadcasting platform, that remains to be seen. »