As Luc would have it
Screenwriter Luc Dionne reflects on the success of his Quebecois crime drama District 31, discusses how he has navigated a film and television career over more than 25 years and offers some words of advice to new writers. After the conclusion of the fifth season of Quebecois crime drama District 31, creator Luc Dionne is certainly due a break. As the only writer on the daily series, he is solely responsible for producing 160 pages of scripts each week to meet the demand of making 120 episodes per year. The Radio-Canada series, which debuted in 2017, follows the officers working at a Montreal police station as they are called upon to investigate kidnappings, burglaries, murders and sex crimes carried out in the city. When plotting the show, Dionne says it is impossible to plan an entire season before writing it. Instead, he places himself among the characters that populate the series and follows them as they attempt to enforce law and order. “I don’t know what I’m going to write the next week or the week after. I don’t have any plan,” he says, speaking during a session as part of C21Media’s Content Quebec On Demand. “I’ve got an overall outline, where this year I’m going to talk about domestic violence, for example. But as far as the story goes, I cannot plan 120 episodes because it’s a balance between what the actors give me and what I can write.” The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic added some extra challenges … Continue reading As Luc would have it
