The headliner of the new series Audrey came back won the hearts of the general public by playing the hilarious Gaby Gravel in Like me! However, Florence Longpré is also a screenwriter with a thousand projects for TV, theater and cinema.. She has just completed a comedy-drama, directed by Philippe Falardeau, on seasonal workers and the challenges of the agricultural world in Quebec, entitled Raspberry time. She is also refining the screenplay for her first film, co-written with her accomplice in Can you hear me ? Pascale Renaud-Hébert. In addition, the actress will be part of the cast of The brotherhood, which will air on Noovo in January.
Q. You are first and foremost an actress. The writing arrived quite late, in 2012, at the theater, with the play Chlorine, written at the request of your interpreter friends Debbie Lynch-White and Samuel Côté. Today, your name appears in the credits of several series. Is the author gaining the upper hand?
R. No. Actress, it’s an extraordinary profession! But you depend a lot on others for work. Write, I can do that alone at home, in a cafe, anywhere. I wrote Can you hear me ? on my phone, among the chickens (!), on the set of Upper country.
Q. Your texts for TV are co-signed. You have collaborated with Pascale Renaud-Hébert, Guillaume Lambert, Suzie Bouchard. Why always write with four hands?
R. First of all, because on my own, I couldn’t do so many projects at the same time. Secondly, because I find the TV industry very tough. You have to fight a lot of battles as a screenwriter. I feel more confident to lead these fights together.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY TELE-QUÉBEC
Florence Longpré and Mélissa Bédard in Can you hear me ?
Q. What types of fights?
R. All kinds of business. It can concern the marketing or the poster of a series such as the subjects, the structure of the episodes, the dramatic progression… My series are successful. People love what I do. That doesn’t prevent me from having to defend my ideas. For me, what I write is quite accessible to the general public, not very nested. However, sometimes I feel that my texts scare decision-makers.
Q. Perhaps it is because your series present an original universe. A Quebec on the fringes, which we see little on our screens, both in terms of the decor, the places and the side of the characters. Where does this interest in those left behind in society come from?
R. I don’t know where I got this fascination for these people. I find them beautiful, interesting. Already in my first room, Chlorine, I was talking about a quadriplegic girl, speechless, who lives recluse in the basement of her house. In my second, on the autism spectrum. These are universes that are emotionally, philosophically and dramatically rich.
Q. Is it important to show the light through the rift, the flower in the dung, hope beyond the drama?
R. I hate cynicism! I believe that we can break the chain of human misery. Drug addiction, violence, delinquency, it’s a gear. What makes us get out of it, that we get out of this gear? The answer is often in a meeting, an event, the discovery of a passion. The seed that will change the game in a lifetime.
Q. In your case, it is the meeting with Marc Brunet to Like me! You said that the role of Gaby Gravel had changed the life of the actress, but it also gave wings to the screenwriter …
R. Marc Brunet is a great author. I learned so much from him, repeating his texts. They developed my ear. Now when I write comedy I know whether a scene is funny or not. I hear it while writing it. It’s like musical notes.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE PRODUCTION
Denis Bouchard and Florence Longpré in Audrey came back
Q. So success gave you legitimacy to write?
R. I don’t want to sound pretentious, but I have about 14 great ideas a week. It constantly “pops” in my head! And the ideas that haunt me for months, I push them to the limit. Since I have several projects at the same time, I try to devote a day to one project, then the next day to another. Otherwise, it’s hard on the brain.
Q. Are there a lot of drawers in your head?
R. Indeed, and it is not always easy on a daily basis. Luckily, when I’m on the verge of overwork, when I wake up in the middle of the night, my boyfriend tells me to be careful and to go and rest at the chalet… To close my drawers.
Q. Is another of your priorities to show diversity on TV?
R. Yes, that’s important, and not just cultural diversity. A diversity of colors, ages, performers, faces, hair …
Q. This year, we are witnessing a swing back in the film industry. A large majority of subsidized projects are carried out by women. The representation of women on the screen, is that a struggle that you also lead?
R. For me, being a feminist is not a fight or a war of the sexes. It’s okay, gratifying, to see more women’s projects accepted in 2021. We have to catch up. But we also need diversity. I worked with Guillaume Lonergan, Nicolas Michon, Guillaume Lambert, Philippe Falardeau… They are all guys who know how to convey women’s stories, who treat us with a lot of respect at work, on sets. They are also feminists. We need men at the center of our stories. In Can you hear me ?, I wanted that [le personnage] by Mehdi Bousaidan is the pivot of the final of the last episode; so as not to just show what will happen to the girls. We’re not going to make it if we’re not all together.
This interview has been edited for brevity.
Can you hear me ? is offered on Netflix (the first two seasons) and on the Télé-Québec site.
Audrey came back has been available since November 18 on Club illico.
Raspberry time will be broadcast on Club illico, from April 14, 2022.