CARÊME

In charge of the second block (episodes 5 to 8), our team —alongside director Laïla Marrakchi— began prep just as filming for the first block was barely getting underway. The show’s creative DNA and visual language had already been established by the first block’s director, Martin Bourboulon.

At that point, we only had one fully written script (episode 5), while the others were either in progress or only at the synopsis stage. Nevertheless, we already had to deliver a rough shooting schedule to estimate filming time for recurring sets (both on location and in the studio) to ensure a seamless transition with the first block. Additionally, we had to contend with a particularly heavy schedule of actor unavailability, which severely limited our room for maneuver. It’s a situation that is, unfortunately, quite common in the world of series production.

The Culinary Challenge

The other major challenge was the culinary component: the recipes, the plating designs, the dishes to be filmed, and historical accuracy…
We immediately turned the ‘delay’ in script delivery to our advantage by involving the culinary coordinator more closely with the writers during the finalization of the stories.
We spent long hours developing the designs and recipes, and then training the actors and extras—even the professional ones—to execute them using 19th-century techniques.

Team Strategy & Revisions

The delay in script distribution forced us to continue preparation while filming, almost until the very last day of the shoot. This is why it quickly became essential to rethink our team strategy to handle the incessant script revisions:

• 2nd Assistant (Greg): Dedicated to the set.
• 2nd Assistant (Vaiana): Managing the call sheet with a 2-day outlook.
• 2nd Assistant (Anne): Managing revisions (new characters or sets, new dishes, costume modifications, props, etc.) with a 2-to-3-week outlook (or more).

Once again, as is so often the case, what stands out most from such an experience is, above all, the human adventure—that of a tight-knit and resilient AD team. When bonds strengthen as difficulties mount, it’s because the ‘casting’ of the AD department was spot on. And it truly was.
This is essential when facing such an intense and fast-paced shoot.

The final episode was also a major challenge. It was meant to conclude this first season with a lavish banquet hosted by Napoleon for his wedding to Josephine on the Champs-Élysées, featuring 5,000 guests (meaning an outdoor shoot). Naturally, we scaled the background talent down to 400 extras— using digital extensions to fill out the crowd —but there were still a massive number of roles to manage daily for these scenes.

On top of all the usual filming struggles, the weather during those few days was relentless, with constant downpours. This forced an army of production assistants to rush out every time to protect the tables and garnished buffets—overflowing with edible dishes for the extras—from the rain.

Memory: The Power Theft

On the morning of another major scene involving a large cast, we discovered that our base camp was no longer functional because the generator’s power cables had been stolen during the night.
We had to urgently relocate numerous hair and makeup stations into temporary spaces scattered around the main location (an 18th-century chateau) to get the actors ready. We immediately established a “battle plan” to process the cast by order of priority.