energy self-sufficiency and virtuous practices on the menu of “Déter”, the new series from France Télévisions

2023-09-01 04:35:00

Accelerate ecological transitions. If the Brittany Region, the leading agricultural region in France, has made this objective a strategy for the transformation of its agricultural model, audiovisual production is also establishing more virtuous practices from an environmental point of view.

In Étrelles, near Vitré (Ille-et-Vilaine), the filming of determine, in progress since April in a rehabilitated former high school and on local farms, brings together the two ambitions. This daily fiction which will follow the schooling and life of final year students of an agricultural high school in Brittany intends to change the image of rurality and the agricultural world. On the set, the team also modifies its practices.

Solar tracker and self-sufficiency

While dealing positively with agriculture, the concerns of young people, the search for a meaningful profession, this production by france.tv studio, a subsidiary of France Télévisions, and the company Black Sheep Films (Mental) for the france.tv streaming platform, is almost a showcase for transitions. It is even one of the first productions in France to be self-sufficient in electricity. It is inspired by an innovation that is increasingly widespread in farms: the solar tracker.

« We produce our own energy thanks to a solar tracker installed on the roof of the school says Toma de Matteis, deputy director of france.tv studio and co-producer of this 200 x 7-minute project, the first episodes of which will be posted online in October. It is the Breton company OKwind, very advanced in the agrivoltaic approach, which installed the large set of photovoltaic panels on the site.

« To find the facilities we need for the series, we shoot with real exhibitors. We noticed that many were equipped with solar trackers. In addition to our approach to reducing the energy bill and our environmental footprint, it is therefore an element of realistic modernity for the decor and the subject of the series. »

An eco-referent and no plastic bottles

Supported by the Ecoprod collective, of which france.tv studio has been a founding member since February 2023, the production team has implemented an ecological approach intended to reduce the carbon footprint of this 200-day shoot.
Since March, the National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC) has indeed been asking subsidized productions to calculate their impact. The forecast for determine stands at 1,709 tons of carbon equivalent for 1,400 program minutes.

On the set, an eco-referent, Mado Le Fur, keeps an eye on things. In addition to the energy component, it also involves reducing plastics, setting up a sorting and recycling system to limit waste production, encouraging responsible purchasing and promoting the circular economy.

« Our eco-manager enforces best practices on a daily basis without disrupting work processes. We have banned cups and plastic bottles, we are doing a lot of work with decoration and carpentry to recondition the decorations, we drive on electric. We hunt everything that can harm the environment as much as possible. It is undoubtedly the most advanced turning in this field explains Toma de Matteis, who with such a big sunthe daily soap opera of France 2, is however used to long-term filming.

Integration into the local landscape and ecosystem

The question of social inclusion is also at the heart of the project. In the canteen, meals are provided by an Establishment and Work Assistance Service (ESAT).
The filming of this fiction with a relatively new theme on screen ultimately reflects the producers’ concern to associate themselves with a local community.

By recruiting local technicians or actors whenever possible. By working hand in hand with operators and with The Land campus (A. De Saint-Exupéry group). This Rennes training center owns the old high school where the series is filmed and its director, Jean-Marc Esnault, also serves as a contact for the scriptwriters to enlighten them on the new rurality and the transformations in progress.

Strongly supported by the Brittany Region and Vitré Communauté, which provided financial assistance of 800,000 euros, i.e. nearly 10% of the overall budget of 10 million euros, the series determine intends to give a nuanced vision of the agricultural world, of the work of breeding (with many animals on the screen), which is not Manichean nor only dependent.

While the episodes of a season 2 are already in writing, the stories will also address themes such as direct farm sales to generate additional income, the transition to organic, food safety and the use of phytosanitary products. Throughout the production chain, sobriety will be in the credits.

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