Paul Piedfort is an experienced screenwriter who worked on succesful series and films over the last 30 years.

Paul Piedfort (1957) was born and raised in a small and boring provincial town near Antwerp (Belgium). He had a happy and joyful youth, no one had ever expected that one day he would become a successful screenwriter. It all started when Paul studied literature at the university and was touched by the work of the great playwrights of all times. It was only a matter of time before he would write his first play. For many years Piedfort combined his literary ambitions with teaching, to his own saying ‘the two best jobs in the world’

Piedfort tried his first steps as a screenwriter in the early nineties of the previous century. When the first-ever commercial television network (VTM) started up in Flanders / Belgium, he was asked to join a writers’ team for a comedy show. At that time he had no experience in screenwriting at all and had to learn the craft the hard way. Eventually the show became so successful it is still running today.

The ship had sailed and many other shows followed. A turning point came when the same network decided to produce a crime series based upon the characters of Belgian's most successful crime-writer, Pieter Aspe. Piedfort was asked to lead the writing team as the head writer and script-editor of the series. It was a new challenge. Soon the family man, living quietly with his wife and two children in a small rural village, became a specialist in brutal murders. 

Not so long after that Piedfort decided to stop teaching, 'it was one of the toughest decisions I had to make in my life.'

In between Paul wrote the script (based upon his own book) of the award-winning film 'Tangiers' (2004), a true story of a coach driver convicted and sent to prison in a Moroccan prison for alleged drug smuggling. The film became an international success and was shown from Toronto to Tokyo.

After ten very successful seasons it was decided to put an end to the Aspe-series. It was the turning of a new page. Piedfort was asked to develop a new crime series and came up with the idea of a professor in criminology assisting the police in complicated criminal investigations.  ‘Professor T.’ was an immediate hit. The critics and the audience loved it and soon it also became an international success. It won the ‘Prix Spécial du Jury pour la Fiction Etrangère’ at the 'Festival de la Fiction' at La Rochelle (France) and the price for best drama in Flanders (Vlaamse Televisiester 2017). The series was sold to many countries and recently remakes have been produced in France (TF1), Germany (ZDF), the Czech Republic and the UK. The latest news is that ABC Studios (USA) are also interested in obtaining the rights of this show.

At this time Piedfort is writing the first three scripts of ‘Crossroads’, a new series he created.  It is a unique co-production between France, Germany and Belgium, produced by France Télévision (France), ndF (Germany) and de Mensen (Belgium). If all goes well, shooting will start in the spring of 2020. (MG)