Since 2020, Audrey Crespo-Mara has been at the head of the portrait which concludes the program “Sept à eight” * every Sunday on TF1. While her last portrait of the season, dedicated to the singer Juliette Armanet, will be broadcast on July 2, the journalist confides in the highlights of the season, marked in particular by the portraits of Florent Pagny, Pamela Anderson, Olena Zelenska or the “Snake”. Meetings orchestrated upstream and negotiated to get rid of the commercial communication that now often surrounds personalities.
Interview by Maxime Fettweis
puremedias.com: What is your assessment of this third season at the helm of the “portrait of the week” of “Sept à Huit”?Audrey Crespo-Mara : I am happy because, for three years, we have been able to offer portraits that are often eventful. This season, I am obviously thinking of the exceptional format that I was able to achieve, over a year, with Florent Pagny. I am also thinking of Olena Zelenska, the First Lady of Ukraine. The DNA of the portrait is a subtle balance between celebrities and anonymous people.
Which meeting marked you the most?Florent Pagny, his fight against cancer. It was his idea. He called me one evening. He knew he had been ill for six months. He wanted to tell about his reconstruction. We were going to see each other three times a year, but unfortunately the last episode was not the deliverance we had imagined. I did not personally know Florent Pagny. I discovered a man who is as cash in real life as the public image we have of him. I think he gave a lot of hope because this disease does not spare any family today in France and he was a real vector of positive around that.
You also mention meetings with anonymous personalities…Yes. Yasin Hansye, Shaina’s brother who was stabbed and burned alive at the age of 15. The murderer’s trial took place recently. I went to Shaïna in Creil. His parents are “living dead”, as Yasin puts it. This family is of absolute dignity. I was also upset by Stéphane Voirin, the husband of Agnès Lassalle, killed in class by one of her students in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. He is “the man who dances” in front of his wife’s coffin. He had given no television interviews. We talked for a long time. And he agreed to testify in the portrait, two months after the death of his wife. This man is totally elegant. Beyond the mourning, he knew how to magnify this so painful moment for him. He talks about it with a lot of modesty and sincerity. More than an interview, the portrait can be an encounter that marks you for life.
Is it the stories that mark more than the notoriety of a personality?The strongest encounters are those that brought me back to the basics of life. Florent Pagny is, beyond his celebrity, his sincerity and his strength in the face of illness. Stéphane Voirin is his dignity in the face of the brutal death of his wife, Yasin Hansye in the face of the assassination of his sister. Ultimately, what leaves traces is what brings us back to fundamental things: life, love, death.
“This interview is one of the two longest and most watched on TV” – Audrey Crespo-MaraWhat is your method of constantly finding new people to meet?I am always on the lookout. You have to be connected to the news, to the people who make it. There is a lot of work with my programmer, Alexandre Duarte. We don’t give up. Very often, the people I invite, I solicit them personally. It is a whole work of conviction upstream, which is essential. The portrait is an appointment, created in 2000 by Thierry Demaizière, so it’s 23 seasons and a thousand portraits. It is an appointment within an appointment. A unique place… This interview is one of the two longest and most watched on TV, and the most comfortable since there is no live pressure. It’s a beautiful box. It’s up to me to find the precious stones.
Despite everything, the methods of interviews have evolved, mainly in recent years. There is often a more padlocked communication around celebrity news that no longer leaves time to settle for several tens of minutes. Is this an obstacle for your portraits?This is especially valid for international stars. When they still come to France, it is often for “press junkets” in hotel rooms, where journalists follow one another every quarter of an hour. Content is limited to promo and time constrained. In these cases, I prefer not to do interviews rather that they are limited, constrained and that in the end, we limit ourselves to the promotion of a film. The portrait requires a commitment from the guest. When I interview Pamela Anderson, I go to her, in Los Angeles, but I can ask her all the questions I want, taking the time to really meet. We have enough interesting personalities and anonymous people not to comply with the constraints of large communication companies.
“When an international star demands questions beforehand, a limited time, and a right to look at the interview before the broadcast, it’s no” – Audrey Crespo-MaraDespite everything, is this stranglehold of communication on certain personalities still a barrier for you to overcome?When an international star demands the questions beforehand, a limited time, and a right to look at the interview before the broadcast, it’s no.
Beyond your journalist cap, do you therefore have a negotiating cap to convince the guests to comply with the portrait game?It sometimes happens that I spend time with the guest, before the interview, to convince him. He must be ready to go further than the usual promotion, to give more than elsewhere. But after three years, the work done pleads for me. For my part, I get confidences because I don’t let go but gently. Aggression won’t do you any good.
After 23 years of existence of this portrait in “Seven to Eight”, what still makes it unique?Some producers in Paris ask me: “How do you manage to make them say that?” It remains a unique place. Viewers know that when watching “Feature of the Week,” a guest will say things he or she hasn’t said or won’t say elsewhere.
In terms of audiences, your portrait remains stable at around 3.7 million viewers on average, even if the number of viewers of “Seven to Eight” has been slightly eroding in recent years… How do you analyze this development?There is the linear audience which is stable, but it would be necessary, for all the emissions besides, to take into account the replays and the second life on the social networks which make it possible to reach another public, younger. For example, the portrait of Yasin, Shaïna’s brother, has been seen more than 9.6 million times on the networks. It is much more than the TV audience. There is a second life which is not negligible.
“I am in discussion with someone that people know, but who has never spoken in the media before” – Audrey Crespo-MaraDespite everything, the audience curves are also an opportunity to question ourselves. Are you preparing any novelties for the next season?It works, so there is no reason to change. It is an appointment that is always watched as much as ever. It’s up to me to find exclusives.
As you work a long time upstream to convince your guests, we imagine that the first portraits of next season are already on the way.…I’m in discussion with someone that people know, but who has never spoken in the media before. I can’t tell you more for the moment… But indeed, the season is ending and I’m already on the next ones. To plan, to discuss, it’s not in September that I have to start.
Alongside these contacts, are other portraits already in the box for the start of the school year?The back-to-school portrait broadcast on August 20 will be dedicated to Camille Cottin. She is one of the rare French actresses to seduce Hollywood. We will talk about her with a more personal dimension. I thank her for her trust.
*”Seven to Eight” is presented by Harry Roselmack and produced by Éléphant, property of Webedia, publisher of puremedias.com
2023-07-03 10:15:11
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