“Writing a daily newspaper is more full-time than full-time. » Marie-Andrée Labbé, who alone signs the screenplay and the dialogues of STATthe new Radio-Canada series taking place in a hospital environment, has not had time to doubt since the beginning of the adventure.
At the rate of four episodes per week on average laid down on paper, or some 25 pages per day, the exercise requires, according to her, a fairly rigid discipline.
“At this stage, while I have already written the first half of the season, filming is underway, confides the author. I always have to be several weeks ahead of them, otherwise it’s too nerve-wracking for everyone. »
Although a large part of the process takes place between her and her computer, Marie-Andrée Labbé can nevertheless count on the twenty years of experience of Fabienne Larouche, now a scriptwriter-editor. and producer of STATand who in the past was the screenwriter of Virginia and of 30 lives.
At this point, while I’ve already written the first half of the season, filming is underway. I always have to be several weeks ahead of [les épisodes]otherwise it’s too scary for everyone.
“The challenge now is knowing when to reveal what. I have stories in the bank and I mostly go there with instinct to make the right decision. I also change my mind along the way, but I trust Fabienne. She knows when it’s time to shuffle the cards,” she says.
Fabienne Larouche adds. She compares the frantic and solitary pace of writing a daily newspaper to an emergency service. “We are in the line of fire. Unlike other series, the relationship to writing is not the same. The pressure is therefore very intense, because the more the filming progresses, the more the deadlines end up tightening… There are no real guidelines, only a few parameters to consider. At some point, however, this gymnastics becomes natural, both effervescent and exciting. »
For Nadine Bismuth, lead author ofIndefensible (soon to air on TVA), which depicts the daily life of a criminal defense law firm, the pace is also sustained even if the operation differs. She oversees a team of seven screenwriters. “I developed the concept of the criminal lawyer with Mr.e Richard Dubé and I wrote the first episodes of the series. Then, as soon as production started, we created our team of writers. We don’t have time between episodes, like an athlete who can’t rest his muscles after exertion. This sometimes involves creative compromises,” she agrees. Nadine Bismuth is, in fact, the guardian of plot progression.
“I am responsible for writing the synopsis for each episode, with the dramatic plots of the professional and personal lives of the characters, she specifies. The authors, on the other hand, take care of the dialogues. We then receive their texts, and, with Me Richard Dubé, since he knows all the workings of justice, we review the episodes so that the whole is coherent and rigorous. »
The two script-editorsIndefensible ensure for their part the structure of the series within a team where a certain complicity has been established. “Our coordination and communication are very fluid and allow for smooth operation,” she notes as the script for the first season will be finished before the end of the year, probably around the end of October.
Self-control and observation
Whether in the medical or legal worlds, the important thing for the authors of series is that the place also conveys action and emotion. Already an author for two other series that explore health, Too and Without an appointmentMarie-Andrée Labbé therefore did not hesitate for a moment before accepting the proposal for STAT.
“It’s an environment that inspires me and attracts me a lot,” she says. And as for that of justice with Indefensible, the hospital ecosystem requires just as much accuracy and care. “All the words are mine, but I don’t decide how many milligrams of a drug a patient needs,” she explains. To do this, the screenwriter also receives the help of a researcher, as well as that of her partner, the columnist, journalist and writer Judith Lussier. “Thanks to them, I have access to direct information collected from medical professionals, in particular, and to the challenges that each profession encounters. »
We were not inspired by specific cases, but we often see similarities between the series and what we can read in the newspapers.
There is therefore no doubt that the issues raised by the pandemic will be addressed in the series, as an echo of the spirit of the health sector in 2022, indicates Marie-Andrée Labbé, who likes to look at subjects that upset her. “I don’t give myself the mandate to be a documentary, I just want to depict this reality so that people for whom it is everyday life recognize themselves in the fiction. And Fabienne Larouche adds: “Everything that happens around us influences writing”, about the temporality imposed by daily life.
Indefensible don’t escape it. “We were not inspired by specific cases, but we often see similarities between the series and what we can read in the newspapers, notes Nadine Bismuth. Various facts through sexual assault, violence, marital drama or mental illness, Indefensible often makes me feel like I’m real. I also think that she will generate a lot of discussion, because she is close to people. »
In this way, Nadine Bismuth also wishes to show behind the scenes, to bring the audience behind the scenes of justice.
“Defence lawyers often have a bad reputation. However, we managed to make them endearing, among other things because they assert the presumption of innocence first and foremost. These are characters and professions that we gain to know, ”she believes. Making those who, a priori, are far from unanimous in public opinion sympathetic, is undeniably the other major writing challenge that the author must tackle with Indefensible.