Corporate - Discover the new french beautifull backlot of Parisian streets built in the suburbs

By Mulder, Coulommiers, 10 october 2024

30 miles from Paris, a new set is available for filming. The Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, came to inaugurate it. Filmmaker Stéphane Demoustier and his team have already come to shoot sequences for the film “La Grande Arche”. Little by little, movie and tv professionals discover this place.

A backlot is a fixed set, generally a reconstruction of streets, built outdoors. On the Coulommiers airfield, the TSF group, a historic rental company of cameras and equipment for filming, has built a district of Parisian streets on 1.5 hectares. The 12 meter high building facades cover a period from the mid-19th century to the present day. On the central boulevard, stand Haussmann buildings with their caryatids. In another street, the atmosphere is that of the Marais. Further on, an industrial loft is next to red brick buildings. A staircase leading to a terrace recalls the “Butte Montmartre”. On the ground floor, neutral interior spaces were built to be transformed according to the scenario and the period, into shops, painting gallery... The entrance to an Art Deco metro station was dug. This backlot is the kingdom of illusion. Everything is made of wood and staff. All you have to do is open a door to find yourself facing a field of wild grass. Power supplies are placed under the sidewalks to power lights. The facade balconies are “walkable”, which means that actors can be placed there. Director Cédric Klapisch is already delighted: “It’s a sandbox, it’s a place where we can play.”

If Thierry de Segonzac, CEO of the TSF group, embarked on this pharaonic project, it's because it is becoming more and more difficult to shoot in Paris. The capital, the world's leading tourist destination, is in high demand. For security reasons, it is difficult to perform stunts, explosions, etc. So, this backlot of Parisian streets is welcome. It was designed by production designer Johann George, surrounded by a team of carpenters, painters and staffers, coming from movies. Local businesses were also contacted. The result lives up to their talents.

This backlot is part of a larger studio project. The TSF group won project aid from the “Grande Fabrique de l'Image”. The studio will include 12 stages, ranging from 600 to 4,000m2, 8,000m2 of workshops, 10,000m2 of storage, dressing rooms and offices. Five stages will be built in 2025. Pending their completion, two sheds of 1,000m2 each, located next to the backlot, can be used as stages. The 1,000m2 workshops used for the backlot's building construction have been transformed into art design workshops. Today, these Parisian streets, sparkling in the sun, resemble those in the series Emily In Paris. The patina will come with the filming, which is sure to happen.

Photos and text : Copyright Sabine Chevrier / Mulderville