While the Cameroonian series “Madame Monsieur” is currently making a lot of noise on social networks, we offer you an interview granted to us by its producer Ebenezer Képombia a.k.a Mitoumba last April during the shooting of this third season.
Interview conducted on 15 April 2022 in Douala
AYILA : From 2007 to today you have produced no less than seven series: “Les Déballeurs”, “Foyer Polygamique”… and “Madame Monsieur” today. What is your secret as the creator and producer of all these works?
What made me special, which you can call “secret”, is that I did things with the means I had, knowing that if I had more means, I had to do better.
Ebenezer Képombia : Look, the secret, if you have to say it that way, is work. It is the fact of working tirelessly, of being ambitious and of having objectives. In fact, you have to set goals, you have to have a business plan, you have to know where you want to go, how you’re going to get there, with what means you’re going to get there, and you have to throw yourself at it with what means you have. So what made me special, which you can call “secret”, is that I did things with the means I had, knowing that if I had more means, I had to do better. You understand? So I didn’t want to sit back and wait for billions to produce a show. No! When I evaluated for example Foyer Polygamique, it took hundreds of millions to produce this series. But we didn’t, we had almost nothing, you know? And we started, we said that we will do with the means we have. Every time I want to produce a series, I count 98% on myself, because 98% of the funding comes from my pockets. That is the basis on which I set the budget for my series. Everyone who works on my series must be included in this budget. If you’re not in my budget, I’m not working with you. That’s what keeps me going. And every time I move forward, I try to improve the quality, because I have the chance to sell everything I do internationally. So it adds to my capital a franc that allows me, to advance on the next production in terms of quality, to acquire new production equipment at the cutting edge, to work with other well-trained technicians, to work with renowned actors, so that the quality of my series is, I can’t say perfect, but that the quality is very well appreciated. So I try to combine technical and artistic quality with the few resources I have.
AYILA : he family, in its fundamental dimension, is at the heart of your works: from the stingy hardware store in “Les Déballeurs” to the hyper chaotic MBARGA family today in “Madame Monsieur”. What explains this obsession with family and what does family mean to you personally?
E. K. : Already I mention that the first film of Les Déballeurs was called La vie dans les mini-cités. The masochist is the second film we produced. In a synoptic way I speak of the family because the family is the basis of society. My goal is to paint a picture of society and there is no better theme to change a society than to talk about the family, because in the family everyone finds himself. Everyone has a family. And that’s why we try to balance: one time we present poor families, another time we present rich families, so that everyone can find themselves. Me especially, when I want to make a work, I do not pose as a lecturer. I set myself up as a mirror, that is, I put a mirror in front of the audience so that they look at themselves through my works, correct themselves if they find that what they are doing is not good; or improve what they are already doing through what they have seen in my works. So I’m not giving lessons, I’m doing a corporate painting.
I was already a star before Madame Monsieur because I had already broadcast several of my series in all French-speaking African countries.
AYILA : How was the “Madame Monsieur” project constructed and what did this series bring you on a human and professional level?
E.K. : Madame Monsieur started from the fact that one morning I said to myself, “I have to produce a series that is not written by myself”. In January 2019, I spoke with Cynthia Elizabeth Ngono and we started working on it. Having worked with her on the HABIBA series, I understood, by working with her, that she was intelligent, that she could write. I said, “Little sister, bring me some serial projects.” She brought me two and I chose Madame Monsieur. But I told him we were gonna rewrite. We rewrote the Bible of Characters, she wrote Season 1 with Stéphane Yung and we shot Season 1 in January 2020. After season 1, we did season 2. For this second season, I wrote the script and Cynthia did the dialogues. And we replicated the same system for season 3. But when I went to season 2, I was dreaming of greatness, of a series that people would call “my best series,” a series that was going to be like Foyer Polygamique, you know? And then the series had the particularity of talking about couple problems… And Madame Monsieur was a phenomenal success.
There are people who left nothing to become hyper-stars today thanks to Madame Monsieur.
So, on the human level, it made me more of a star than I was. I was already a star before Madame Monsieur because I had already broadcast several of my series in all French-speaking African countries. So it’s not Madame Monsieur who takes me abroad. La Reine Blanche, for example, was broadcast on ASTECA TV in Mexico. And those who criticized me yesterday, insulted me yesterday, come today to ask to work with me. Even the toughest critics yesterday are proud of me. Thanks to this series we won the SOTIGUI AWARDS. The Minister [of Arts and Culture of Cameroon, Editor’s note] had to organize, for the first time, a ceremony to honor, on behalf of the State, the actors and they were those of Madame Monsieur. There are people who left nothing to become hyper-stars today thanks to Madame Monsieur. 90% of Madame Monsieur’s actors are hyper-stars who weren’t before. It is thanks to Madame Monsieur that they had a lot of visibility, a lot of notoriety too.
AYILA : The season 1 of Madame Monsieur was rather classic, posed, focusing on the lives of several couples, in season 2 you made a 180° turn we will say: the murders, the gangsters, the weapons… A really bold choice. Didn’t you have a bit of a fear of taking that turn, telling yourself that maybe the public wasn’t going to like it?
E.K. : No, no. I wasn’t afraid, because the first season was a series. A series is a film whose episodes do not necessarily follow each other. In the first season, each episode had a theme, or we treated a theme on two episodes, three, maximum. So, after that, we went on to the order paper and the order paper attached more to the audience than the series. That was my experience. It was also not as easy to continue in series, one could be in rupture of themes on which to work. That’s why I went on the order paper, because it’s easy to put suspense, twists and turns, etc. You had to make your hearts tremble, you had to make your hearts tremble. Season 1 was more humorous, while season 2, and even season 3, are dramatic, humorous, and glamorous series. Season 2 and 3 is drama, humour and glamour.
AYILA : You said in an interview that season 3 was the last one. Do you confirm that, or should we expect another season?
E.K. : At this point I can’t say yet. I’ll speak to that in three to four months’ time definitively.
AYILA : For season 3 you have new recruits at the casting level, are you satisfied with these new recruits?
E.K. : Yes, we are very rigorous in the casting. I have a casting team that is very rigorous and that manages recruitment well. When she recruits them, she sends them to me, I do rehearsal sessions with upgrades, and so on. So, we work a lot with new recruits before going on the set. So, they satisfy me. All the new recruits, whether it’s season one, or season two that you know. You know that all those of season 2 who entered have satisfied the public. This will be the case for season 3.
There are people with whom we are going to move forward, and there are others that we are going to set aside, not because they are not good, or because they have created a problem for us or whatever, but because we have to give new people a chance.
AYILA : BIG MOP has become a real legend on social media. His videos are often repeated. Is it possible that one day BIG MOP will return to one of your series?
E.K. : Yes, of course. At the moment he’s not in Cameroon. He lives in England. But it’s possible, especially since he’s my little brother. As soon as I find a project where I feel good about him, I will bring him back. I know it better than anyone. You know, people need us to give new faces a chance, at the same time, they need those who have had the good times to come back. We leave the old ones a bit, even on five sets. Then they come back as old, but at the same time as new ones. Because other people who didn’t know them are going to find them. So it’s a philosophy that we have. People should not be surprised, because after Madame Monsieur, we will not continue entirely with the same team. There are people with whom we are going to move forward, and there are others that we are going to set aside, not because they are not good, or because they have created a problem for us or whatever, but because we have to give new people a chance. We can even be more ambitious in our next series, dream bigger and do a series with blacks and whites, or a pan-African series. Because, now, we don’t want to make series that we will only sell in Africa. So you have to have a marketing policy, you have to think as a producer: how am I going to exploit? The chance I have is that I am a director and a producer. So, when it comes to realisation, I dream, but when it comes to production, I calculate. So, I wonder what it will give me, what it will bring me!
AYILA: After Madame.Sir, what should we expect? Sources talk about a series with Franck Thierry Lea Malle…
E.K. : These are sources…. I once made a film with Lea Malle, L’ACCORD. I worked with him in that film. Besides, I have no problem working with someone in Cameroon. I can work with everyone. But for now, we’re talking about Madame Monsieur. We’re not talking about other things yet.
Interview by Rostand WANDJA
Discussion about this post