Better known in France for male-skewing action and teen comedy, Amazon Prime Video looks to conquer new ground with its raunchy French soap “Escort Boys.” Highlighting the country’s changing gender power dynamics with an eye-candy cast and grown-up jokes, “Escort Boys” looks to build on an interesting momentum as France experiences its most divisive #MeToo moment ever around iconic actor Gerard Depardieu’s downfall.
The timely series, which is the French adaptation of the Israeli show “Johnny and the Knights of Galilee” (“Milk and Honey”) marks the first French scripted title acquired at an early stage by Prime Video for France and English-speaking territories such as North America, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, along with a string of international territories including Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal. As one of the streamer’s major investments in France, “Escort Boys” bowed with a lavish world premiere at the UGC Les Halles cinemas in Paris, followed by a party at the cabaret Chez Lulu on Dec. 14.
Directed by Ruben Alves (“Miss,””The Gilded Cage”), the half-hour comedy series portrays four young men who become escorts to make ends meet and save their family business in a picturesque town in Southern France. Their experiences rock their pre-conceived ideas about romantic love, female sexuality and masculinity, as well as the relationship between men and women. The show is produced by two well-established female producers, Myriam Gharbi-de Vasselot at Oberkampf Productions ‘(“Les Papillons Noirs”) and Charlotte Toledano-Detaille at Story Nation Productions (“Hot Ones”). Both outfits are owned by Mediawan. Male escorts will also be the topic of a documentary produced by Gharbi-de Vasselot, which will premiere on Prime Video on Jan. 12.
Below, Variety talks with Gharbi-de Vasselot and Toledano-Detaille about the journey to securing global rights to the Israeli format, adapting it in France, tapping into the zeitgeist of the #MeToo era and filming intimate scenes.
How did you come up with the idea for “Escort Boys”?
Charlotte Toledano-Detaille: I came across the original Israeli series “Johnny and the Knights of Galilee” (“Milk and Honey”), during a showcase hosted by Keshet back in 2017, when I was in charge of development at Lagardere Studios. In the middle of a flood of spy dramas and counter-terrorism thrillers, I saw the trailer for this show with four men naked riding horses and I thought, “Oh, what is that!?” And then I watched the series, and what struck me is that beneath the surface it says a lot of meaningful things. But it wasn’t an easy sale, the project was turned down by many producers!
Myriam Gharbi-de Vasselot: Not by me! I got on board and was very excited from the get-go. But it’s true that there was some reticence because of the common belief that comedy is too difficult to adapt and doesn’t travel. And back in 2017, there were nearly no comedies on primetime, and even less half-hour comedies. But I managed to enlist Canal+, with whom I had previously worked on the series “Hard” tackling similar themes [set against the backdrop of the porn industry] when I was at GMT Productions, and we started developing “Escort Boys” together. But after we developed it for two-and-half years, we hit the wall of greenlighting and Canal+ didn’t go ahead with it. Then came the pandemic and lockdown. By the end of it, we had lost our director and writers, and didn’t have a broadcaster.
Toledano-Detaille: The problem at the time is that there were so few outlets for that kind of show. Netflix had just launched but the other streamers didn’t have local acquisition teams. And it wasn’t what platforms were looking for. Back then, they didn’t want to adapt original formats, they wanted to launch their own originals. We also had a big issue over the rights because Keshet didn’t want to give us world rights, which is what streamers demanded.
So how did you end up working with Prime Video ?
Toledano-Detaille: By the time the pandemic was over, global rights for the format became available. Keshet lost them and they reverted back to Yes Studios, the Israeli distribution company, so we managed to secure those rights after chasing them for a while. After the lockdown and all those restrictions tied to the pandemic, it felt like the right time to revisit the project. After all we went through, everyone needed a feel-good show. It was also right around the time that Lagardere Studios had been bought by Mediawan and we were in the process of launching our respective labels, Story Nation and Oberkampf. And then we got Amazon Prime in — the acquisition team, not the originals, which was a perfect fit.
Gharbi-de Vasselot: In the meantime, the #MeToo wave had also arrived in France. Although the Weinstein case happened in 2016, it took several more years to come to France.
When did Ruben Alves get attached to the series?
Gharbi-de Vasselot: After we started the series with Amazon, we searched for a writer-director and that’s when we thought of Ruben Alves, who had just directed “Miss.” We felt he was the ideal director to tackle this series with a contemporary and daring perspective, and his own aesthetic touch.
Toledano-Detaille: What I love about Ruben is that he brings such warmth and sunshine into whatever he makes. I had loved his movie “The Gilded Cage” and we wanted our series to be in a similar vein. He knows how to deliver a dramedy in a way that very few French directors can. He can make you laugh and cry almost at the same time. Amazon Prime Video was enthusiastic about the whole package and the prospect of working with Ruben on this high-concept Israeli format.
The target audience for Amazon Prime Video seems very male-skewing, do you think men will actually watch the show?
Gharbi-de Vasselot: I think it’s a rare show that men and women enjoy watching together.
Toledano-Detaille: At first, we assumed it was a series primarily for female audience, but one thing we noticed is that guys who watch it generally want to become part of the band of escort boys. It strikes a chord to see men talk about sexuality and their feelings.
Myriam, you’ve also produced a documentary about escort boys for Amazon Prime Video.
Gharbi-de Vasselot: Yes, when I started research for the series I met real-life escort boys because I felt that it was important to get a true sense of who they were and what kind of relationships they had with their female clients. I figured we had a different mentality than Israelis when it comes to sexuality and love. So I met five or six escort boys, and they shared a lot of anecdotes that Ruben actually pulled from for the series. When I talked about the idea of making a documentary around those real-life escort boys and some clients, Sahar Baghery’s team at Amazon Prime Video was immediately interested. It will launch on the service on Jan. 12.
The series also captures France’s critical stance toward the #MeToo movement.
Toledano-Detaille: Absolutely, and actually I’m curious to see how American audiences will react to it. But I think they will be delighted to see four sexy French men. Look how popular Lucas Bravo became from his role in “Emily in Paris.” In “Escort Boys,” we have four handsome guys and there’s one for every taste.
It’s rare that Amazon Prime Video takes a French series for multiple territories, did it mean that you had a larger budget to produce it?
Toledano-Detaille: Yes, it’s very rare and especially for a foreign-language show to be pre-bought for English speaking territories and jointly launched across these markets. We’re one of the first independently produced shows acquired by Amazon Prime Video at the development stage. When we started working on the series, the streamers’ support fund had not yet been created and we didn’t get any subsidies from regions because of the topic of “Escort Boys.” So the backing of Prime Video was crucial.
Gharbi-de Vasselot: Sahar Baghery’s teams did an outstanding job to sell the series to all these different markets.
Unlike a lot of French series, it’s not depressing and it’s got a fairytale vibe. Was that intentional?
Toledano-Detaille: Yes, and the backdrop in the region of Camargue will strike audiences because it looks like the French Wild West.
Gharbi-de Vasselot: At the same time, there’s a social dimension in the vein of “The Full Monty.” Our protagonists have to pay their bills, they’re struggling to make ends meet and rescue the family farming business from bankruptcy. But Ruben is able to do all this with a sort of lightheartedness.
Toledano-Detaille: The series also tackles some serious issues. In the third episode, one of the clients gets sexually harassed by her boss. It really touched me and I think it will resonate with many women.
Since it’s an independent production, do you own the rights?
Toledano-Detaille: Amazon Prime Video has exclusive streaming rights for the first few years. We’ll get the rights back in six years, so we own the IP.
Gharbi-de Vasselot: Working with the acquisitions team at Amazon Prime Video gave us a lot of artistic freedom. We were all on the same page every step of the way, from the casting to the editing.
Did you work with an intimacy coordinator?
Toledano-Detaille: We proposed an intimacy coordinator to every cast member because we absolutely wanted to avoid any awkwardness due to the nudity that’s in the show. And we think men, like women, should be able to feel safe and comfortable with these intimacy scenes. But the actors all said “no.” They discussed at length with Ruben and he was wonderful at creating a friendly and safe atmosphere on set.
Gharbi-de Vasselot: By the end of filming, our cast abandoned their hotels and decided to live together in a beach house.
Will there be a second season?
Toledano-Detaille: We hope there’ll be a second season and we would love to create an iconic show like “Call My Agent!” with cameos of famous actors.
Gharbi-de Vasselot: It was conceived for two seasons and we ended the first season with cliffhanger for every character, so we hope to be back.
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