From music videos to animation: the journey of a curious and committedscriptwriter
Laurent Sarfati is a scriptwriter who moves between different genres, from music videos to series, video games and feature films. He got his start in the 1990s with Joystick magazine, under the pseudonym Monsieur Pomme de Terre, before making a name for himself by creating La Minute Blonde on Canal+. He then co-wrote “Ma vie n’est pas une comédie romantique” with Marc Gibaja, launching a career marked by a diversity of formats and collaborations.
For the past fifteen years, he has worked closely with director Jérémie Périn. Together, they have directed the music videos Truckers Delight and Fantasy, the animated series Lastman (2016), Crisis Jung (2018, broadcast on Netflix), and finally Mars Express (2022), hailed by Usbek & Rica as “the SF film that makes French animation shine”.
From idea to screen: the making of an animated feature film
During this talk, Laurent Sarfati explored the many facets of the scriptwriter’s job, based on his work on Mars Express. He detailed the key stages in writing a work of animated fiction: from the genesis of the idea to its structuring, via the development of the script and its realisation on screen. In particular, he stressed the importance of storyboarding, animatics and voice casting, all essential phases in the making of an animated film.
At the heart of the creativeprocess
One of the highlights of his talk was the way in which Laurent highlighted the close relationship between scriptwriter and director. Using the example of his collaboration with Jérémie Périn, he illustrated the richness and challenges of writing together, underlining the need for a shared vision, but also the place of compromise and complementarity in this four-handed work.
A lively discussion with the students
Throughout the conference, Laurent Sarfati engaged in a lively dialogue with the students, who were delighted with the generosity of his answers and the clarity of his explanations. The discussions enabled them to gain a better understanding of the realities of the profession, in particular the issues surrounding the structuring of a project, its development through to sale, and the central role of storytelling.
An inspiring learning experience
This CinéLab made a lasting impression thanks to the quality of the discussions and the relevance of the themes addressed. The students came away with an enriched vision of the scriptwriting profession, and a better understanding of the nuts and bolts of creating a feature-length animated film. It was an inspiring meeting that combined theory, professional experience and a passion for cinema.
