BBC Worldwide inks French deals

"Romeo and Juliet" actors Timothee Prince, left, and Anais Michel chat with director Alain Sachs.CANNES -- BBC Worldwide France has inked a deal with Gaul's pubcaster France on two new formats: "A Week Without Electricity" and "Romeo and Juliet." "A Week Without Electricity" is a twist on "The Week the Women Went," which bowed on France Televisions in March, marking the pubcaster's first venture into reality TV. "A Week Without Electricity" will follow people from the same apartment block who have agreed to live without electricity for seven days. "About 80% of our electricity comes from nuclear energy so we think this program will not only entertain, but also make people reflect on current events, notably the Fukushima disaster," said Jean Louis Blot, director of BBC Worldwide Productions France, who describes the show as a hybrid between a documentary and a reality show. The host of "A Week Without Electricity" will live with the block's tenants. Meanwhile, "Romeo and Juliet" is an original format developed by BBC Worldwide France that brings together high-school students from two very different worlds, an upscale Paris neighborhood and an underprivileged Parisian suburb, who will perform in an adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." BBC Worldwide France is casting the 20 or so students who will act, dance and sing in the play, under the direction of helmer Alain Sachs. "It's a large-scale project that can introduce younger audiences to (high) culture," Blot said. "We're creating original songs, choreographies and costumes for the program." The show, which will be hosted by French-Moroccan presenter Hicham Nazzal, will follow the teens through the casting process and over three months of rehearsal. The play will be staged at the Odeon Theater in Paris in December, and will air live on France 2, one of the pubcaster's channels. BBC Worldwide France also inked deals with commercial net TF1 and Franco-German channel Arte. Arte commissioned "Photo for Life," a five-part show based on BBC's format "Design for Life," while TF1 picked up the second season of "Dancing With the Stars." Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

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