La Job


La Job is a Canadian comedy television series set in Montreal, Quebec. It is an adaptation of the British show The Office. Produced by Anne-Marie Losique's Image Diffusion International, it has been broadcast for a limited number of viewers on Bell TV satellite television, beginning on October 9, 2006. It was later seen by a wider audience on the public broadcaster Radio-Canada and specialty channel ARTV. It is the third official foreign adaptation of the concept, and the second in a language other than English.

Synopsis

National industry leader Les Papiers Jennings, a multinational carton and packaging company, is restructuring. The regional manager of their branch in Côte-de-Liesse, Saint-Laurent, in Montreal, is David Gervais. He will need to compete with the Terrebonne branch and operate an important effort to avoid the shut-down of their branch. He will also have to cope with occasionally rebellious employees.
David is a failed comedian and rocker who also fails to grasp the notion of political correctness. He tends to either make a fool of himself in front of the office crew or make it intensely uncomfortable. The one who seems to enjoy him the most is Sam Bisaillon, former army cadet who worships David. He shares his desk with Louis Tremblay, who is secretly in love with the shy receptionist Anne Viens. The problem is that Anne is engaged to Luc, a macho warehouse employee.

Production

The Office had already seen foreign adaptation with the American The Office, the French Le Bureau and the quasi-official German version Stromberg. Image Diffusion International produced the Québécois version. IDI co-founder Anne-Marie Losique, a well-known television host and producer, says "I saw the original show on DVD and found that it was one of the most risqué and extraordinary shows ever. For me, it's a cult classic... we've stayed very faithful to the British series... , the show is also set in the suburbs where nothing ever happens". Surprisingly, Losique claimed that she bought the concept for only $5,000, according to a 2005 article in Le Soleil. She has mentioned that French television station Canal+ has shown interest in this version, despite already producing and broadcasting the French one. Losique already made herself known for importing shows like the American The Simple Life starring herself and pop singer Jacynthe and The Surreal Life.
Like the British Office, La Job takes the form of a mockumentary. Twelve episodes for the first season began shooting on July 10, 2006 and wrapped-up six weeks later, with a budget of less than C$200,000 each and filmed in high-definition. For its first season, as its French counterpart, La Job has adapted directly from the British scripts, rather than creating new ones like in the United States. Initially, there was hesitation over whether to call the show "Le Bureau" or "La Job". Eventually, La Job was chosen. Reports in the media of the name "Le Job" were mistakes.
André St-Pierre is the director of the episodes. He is best known as the co-director of the Télé-Québec show Les Francs-Tireurs and La Job was his first fiction. Script adaptation was given to Ian Lauzon and Jean-Philippe Granger was made screenwriter. Like the American Office, improv veterans were called to fill the shoes of some of the original actors. The role of the David Brent boss was entrusted to Antoine Vézina, a performer of the reputed Ligue nationale d'improvisation, a Quebec-born concept of improvisational theatre and international improv team competition. Sophie Cadieux, who holds the role corresponding to Dawn Tinsley, has also taken part in the LNI. Paul Ahmarani, playing La Job's Gareth Keenan, is a great fan of the British series. About the black humor of the show, he comments: "Personally, when I began watching that show, after five minutes, I knew that I had before my eyes something unique, that would literally shatter all that we had seen before". On his character, he sums up that "I'm someone that is very much of a coward, so I like to take refuge in military fantasies of virility... I really like to say that I spent three years in the army... I'm a bit of a loser, very right-wing, very militarist". Sébastien Huberdeau, the Tim Canterbury equivalent, was seen on international screens in The Barbarian Invasions, winner of the 2004 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
It was reported that Anne-Marie Losique made the surprising choice of making Luc Provost audition for the Gareth Keenan character. Provost is better known as the flamboyant drag queen Mado Lamotte. He had just wrapped up shooting Losique's Des gens pas ordinaires when the offer was made. Irony would have been striking for the openly gay Provost playing the slightly homophobic character. He ultimately did not obtain the role.

Reality and fiction

Reality and fiction sometimes meet in La Job, like in its American counterpart, the actual studios are located in Côte-de-Liesse, near Autoroute 20, where the Papiers Jennings branch is located in the series. Some scenes have also been shot at the Bar Zeffé, a bar located near the main set that keeps its real name within the show. Built for the series, the shooting set is said to be ready to be converted into a real office space overnight. Shooting is done without spotlights, only with the office fluorescent lights. The neighbourhood paper Saint-Laurent News provides the show with fake newspapers used in filming.

Internet videos

Made for the internet, around a minute long original videos of the boss alone at his desk, giving foolish advice at the camera, were released online weekly in the last quarter of 2006 on Bell's Sympatico.msn.com. The American version also released internet videos, in the middle of 2006. Those are the episodes thus far.
These are the actors and characters. To see how these characters compare with other versions of the show, see.