As a French rental company for audiovisual material with a fairly high profile in the field, TSF wanted to expand their activities to the Walloon Region. In 2009 TSFBE was set up. By meeting with Pascal BURON, manager of TSFBE in Belgium, we wanted to discover this new partner and the facilities made available for Belgian producers in 2010.

TSFBE has shown an interest in developing specific tools for the producers' needs; could you describe what this entails for France and for Belgium?

P. Buron: For many years now our wish has been to offer the services of a single location for the rental of shoot equipment 'packages' for a given project, in the Parisian region, Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur and now in Wallonia. We don't just do 'over the counter' rentals but we, as much as we can, adapt our offer to the feature or television film projects, often several weeks long, that we have identified. Generally speaking we often suggest, for the rental of cameras and lights, a complete 'package', including the machinery, the generators, the transport trucks, and the location management consumables through our Cinéboutique division, and even the studios when needed. Given our experience in the French regions, like in Marseille and Cannes, we will adapt our offer to the needs of the local market. Our investments will be adapted to the local market, but also in accordance to the specific needs of the productions which intend to use our services. We are also looking into cooperating with already established companies in order not to create technical overcapacity on the market, but instead to offer intelligent complementarity.

Also, since film shoot activity is rather seasonal, to guarantee sustainable activity all through the year, we set up a little cinema material reparation and manufacture unit at TSF.be Liège, which we will rent out but also sell. For example, we designed ultra light 'travelling' rails which we intend to be ready for delivery at the end of the first semester in 2010. This workshop also allows us to make numerous equipments and accessories in aluminium, and to repair electrical equipment or the bases of projectors and this for all of our European sites.

You set up in Liège – are there any specific reasons for this?

P. Buron : Our set up in Liège has several reasons. First, the Liège Image Cluster welcomed us with open arms, making our setting up easier by giving us the use of premises adapted to our activity, helping with the recruitment of personnel and all necessary administrative steps. The governments of Belgium and the Walloon Region offer incentives for film shoot and post-production expenses in Belgium through the 'Tax Shelter' system, which attracts more and more French-Belgian co-productions. Our goal is to accompany this movement by having the most high performance technical offer.

We know that the current Image Cluster has to move to a new address in Liège in 2010, with a bigger surface area which will give us the possibility to consider the set-up of film studios.

We wish to associate the Belgian producers to these plans, to better gauge their needs and expectations. We want to take our inspiration from the successful experience the Long Courrier Studios had in the Parisian region as well as from the splendid adventure we lived with the series “Plus Belle la vie” filmed in the studios of Marseille. The Long Courrier Studios are a new production concept in the Parisian region which seems to be perfectly adaptable to Wallonia.


Can you describe your team here in Belgium?

P. Buron : Currently our team is still small, it consists of a mechanic/welder/warehouse keeper who looks after the manufacture and the reparations in the workshop we mentioned above. When rented material leaves or returns, we punctually strengthen the team when needed. TSB.be is managed by Thierry de Ségonzac, the president of the TSF group (editor's note: also president of FICAM). Personally, I manage our agency in Liège and the commercial aspects of our services. Our goal, contingent on the activity level we will reach, is to quickly have a team of around four people like in our Cannes and Marseille agencies in France.

What are the complementary factors with CoToon and WFX?

P. Buron : having CoToon and WFX in the Liège Image Cluster makes it possible for Belgian producers to find the grand majority of technical industry services needed for making a feature film or television fiction in one spot. So we can offer the technical means for a shoot and we hope soon also the studios, while CoToon and WFX offer the entire post-production and visual effects chain. This is, without a doubt, a real opportunity for Belgian producers to be able to have all of their needs met in a single location.


What are your first projects and productions in Belgium?

P. Buron : Since the set-up of TSF.be in August 2009 in Liège we have worked on the following projects: the 2 x 100 min television series Rabelais, directed by Hervé BASLE, lighting in Svétlana GANEVA and co-produced by BE Films and Astérina. The shoot took 10 weeks in Belgium, Luxembourg and several French regions. The feature Hors-la-loi, directed by Rachid BOUCHAREB, lighting by Sylvain MONOD and co-produced by Novak and Tessalit. This shoot has just finished up after around twenty weeks of filming and transport in Belgium, Algeria, Tunisia, Thailand and the Parisian region.

The feature Le Fils à Jo, directed by Philippe GUILLARD, lighting by Ludovic COLBEAU-JUSTIN and co-produced by Infinity Films and LGM Cinéma.

Currently filming or in the project stages are two features: La chance de ma vie by Nicolas Cuche – co-produced by Scope Pictures/Fidélité Films and Les yeux de sa mère by Thierry Klifa – co-produced by Tarantula/LGM Cinéma.

Benoît RENSONNET