Skam France: The break-up of Maya-Lola, the end of the cycle in the 10th season … The collection director of the series tells us everything

AlloCiné: You are the collection director of Skam France from Season 7, which aired last year on France tv slash. What made you want to join the adventure and succeed at Neil Raho when you were offered it?

Deborah Hasun : I have always been a real fan of teen soap operas. I really like it. I looked at the chair before I worked on it. I started writing teen TV series, I really like it. And indeed, I was very happy when I received this offer.

It was my agent who told the series’ producer, Carol della Valle: “If at some point you are looking for a new collection director, Deborah really likes the series.” And that’s when I said to myself “he deserves his 10%” (laughs). So he called me when that happened. And to be honest, I did not hesitate.

It was a great suggestion and a great experience. I was able to have my own teams, discover new authors, because often young authors work on Skam. And that’s what I also like: sharing and transmitting. In fact, I think it must have been a bit silly to refuse a chair, especially since there is a fairly special visibility. And also freedom because Slash wants us to try new things, even if we run the risk of spoiling it. But because it’s a brand, we can afford it.

All the elements are there to actually say yes. Just not so well paid (laughs). To be honest, this is the only black dot, but it is one of the series that is done that way. And we have that freedom for that reason too. So overall, it’s balanced.

The fact that Skam France moved from season 5 to the original seasons, was that also a motivation for you?

Completely. Had it been an adaptation, I do not know if I would have gone. Anyway, as a rule, I am less interested in adaptation. There, indeed, I could do what I wanted. I went, they said “childbirth”, and I answered “OK, but refuse pregnancy and typhus.” And they even told me. Of course, this is not mass production because it is the highway and there are codes and that’s all. But I still get the impression that in my seasons, I really put a lot of my head into it and I also urge my authors to put a lot of themselves into it.

As an author, I was not at all interested in the story of a 16-year-old girl who wanted a child. That was not my goal. But on the other hand, denying pregnancy, I immediately thought. For me it was something he had never said so. It is always considered as a different fact. I do not know if I will be allowed to treat this topic like this in another series.

And to be honest, from the moment I said “the teaser is typhoid giving birth”, I had everyone’s support. There was something that was both compassionate and surprising. And it was a real movie scene, there was a strong cinematic aspect. I did not have to quarrel over any of the topics I wanted to cover in the show.

Was it difficult when you realized you were writing for the characters that were, for the most part, imagined and presented in Season 6?

No, this is part of my job as a screenwriter. I work on other series where sometimes I just write dialogues where the characters already exist. So it was not that difficult. On the other hand, I was happy because little was said about them, only sketches. Except for Lola and Maya, about whom we still had a lot of information in Season 6.

I was happy because I was able to bring a vision to them. Between Season 6 and Season 7, the character that changes the most is Lola, precisely because she came out of grief, depression, and also addiction. He is more of a sunny character from Season 7.

For others, it was a logical continuation. They look like them, but we went further. We went deeper, looking for who they really were. Then we also have characters we created like Bilal and Redouane. And then there are all the secondary characters, like June in the 9th season. This is wonderful because you can revive them in one season and it does no harm.

A bit like Anais, who was very secondary from the beginning, and who will become herself in Season 10 because she will be the protagonist of the next episodes?

That’s what I love. To me this is chair magic. For the first season, he had five days to shoot. Was in love with the plague. Besides, we knew nothing about him. And today, he has his season, we discover his intimate relationship in his home, in his family.

It’s really chair magic: you suddenly focus on a character who used to be secondary. In Season 7, we played Anais a bit, in Season 8, she was not so relevant, but in Season 9, we chose her scenes in a way that made sense to continue. And that’s why I’m glad to be interested in Anais.

One of the main themes of the 9th season, which ended on Friday, is grief. How did this choice come about?

It started with a heart attack. A topic that Carol had long wanted to study. And I was happy that I did not do a social topic. I wanted to explore something else that is more risky because we actually have less power. For example, denying pregnancy is a topic of abandonment, there is a social worker, … steps that allow us to structure the story. There, somewhere, we are a little less on the standard scenes and that’s very interesting.

We really wanted to do the season with Ayumi Roux, especially since there was a lot of anticipation around the Maya character. So this topic out there, with this character having had things stuck in for so long, I thought was pretty logical. Made sense. We said to ourselves, “With this breakup, we are going to restore the grief of his parents.” This is not just a simple distance. But also revival.

Maya realizes that she has solid foundations that she no longer believed in. And I love this scene with Lola in the 9th episode. When Lola tells him “We are your family”. Because in reality, he needs to hear about it because he no longer has a family. As Max finally says “when my grandmother leaves, there will be nothing left of my world”, she replies “you will be there”. There is something in the repair order and that is exactly what I wanted to talk to him about.

Was it important to end the season with a calm between Lola and Maya?

of course. And not just because it’s Skam. This is just what we wanted to say between them: that is, love exists, but it is no longer the same love. Because they are young, love changes over time. And in this form of appeasement, there is also the idea of ​​uniting with a clan, a myth.

Was there a desire in the idea of ​​this break to break a bit of the impression that all the love stories in the chair are perfect and long, which is not so realistic when it comes to 17 or 18 year olds?

Yes, that was a bit too much. It is ridiculous because many have criticized us for having so many couples in the chair. We broke one there and they blame us too (laughs). There was a whole lot of arguing about this being a lesbian couple. But I tell myself that today, exactly, couples of girls at that age can experience things, stories that were not necessarily the case before, because they had to hide because we were in a more forbidden love.

Today I believe in this world where there are couples of 16 year old girls who are really in love, who have real stories, who are “out” and live well. So it also means living with youth breakdowns. Whereas before it was not like that at all. There has never been such youthful love. And I’m glad it exists today. And see the evolution of society. And that means everything, of course.

I understand this desire for a positive performance and it is very important. But, for me a couple is not always synonymous with happiness. And that’s what we wanted to convey in Season 9. As much as I can say, I think love is an integral part of happiness. But for a couple, it is not necessary. Also, in order to be happy in a couple, you must first be happy yourself. It’s a bit trivial, but really, this is what you learn when you are young.

Was it a joy to write for Ayumi Rust, who is a wonderful actor?

Completely. Ayumi pierces the screen, awesome. Because we know how much he pierces the screen, we are not afraid of the silence and internalized moments that are part of his character. We say to ourselves, “Well, it will be good, because there will be this aura around him.” Although there are characters for whom we may be more afraid of silence.

How about an Anais-focused 10th season?

I have no right to say anything, but you can not imagine how much I want to talk about it because we love this season.

Will it be released in the coming weeks?

He will not come in 8 months, of course. He comes (laughs).

Many fans thought that the 10th season would be on Redouane. Why did you decide to go in another direction?

I admit I like female characters, it plays a lot in that decision. And then we started with the girls ‘two seasons, seasons 1 and 2, so I did not bother to finish the girls’ two seasons, which even touched me.

And also find a girlfriend case that we had a bit of with Maya because she is very Lola and a very mixed band. So we wanted to go back to that, with the girls talking. But other than that, Zoe Garcia is a really wonderful actress. We really wanted to play her. And because we had a topic that he imposed on himself, it was done that way. But we love Reduan’s character. We do not leave Reduan in the corner (laughs).

Season 10 is expected to end high school for Lola, Tiffany, and others. Will this be the end of your adventures as a collection director and screenwriter?

Yes, this is the end of this generation. And that’s literally the end for me too. The end of Skam, I do not know. I’m not involved in this type of conversation about the future of the show. But for me, yes, that’s the end of it. I did a few seasons, I’m happy.

Was it an easy decision to make?

ᲓYes, no problem. It is still quite a hard pace to write two seasons in eight months with eight authors. This is the principle of collection directors, we have a lot of work to do. But I needed to continue. Although I still write about teenagers. But I’m also a director, I wanted to make a second short film. A lot of things that are impossible when you get the collection management of the series because it really takes up all your time.

Specifically, can you tell us about your future projects?

I’m working on a series that will soon be released on Netflix where I am a screenwriter. Designer Charlotte Sanson. It is called Les 7 vies de Léa. Season 1 will be released soon. Cool, I love this series. In it is Khalil Ben Gharbia (Bilal), he has one of the main roles. We are starting work on the second season, even if we are not sure if there will be a sequel. This is always the case in France.

I also have personal projects that I develop side by side. And I do a dialogue every year because I promise on TF1. I am currently working on the dialogues for the 3rd season episode.