To create this unique story, Thomas Jolly, Artistic Director of both Ceremonies, brought together the scriptwriter Fanny Herrero, the author Leïla Slimani, the historian and professor at the Collège de France Patrick Boucheron and the author and playwright Damien Gabriac. Thomas Jolly invited these four very different and complementary authors to write a story for this unprecedented ceremony. 

The preparatory work allowed them to take many key decisions, such as changing the structure of the ceremony, which is usually organised around an artistic show, the parade of athletes and the protocol part. This new narrative mixes all these elements, allowing the audience to follow the flow of the Seine and the Parisian monuments along its banks, and giving the athletes a central place from the Pont d'Austerlitz to the Trocadéro in 12 sequences. 

Thomas Jolly said, "As soon as I was appointed, I knew I had to put together a team of writers to tell the story of this unique ceremony in the heart of Paris, its history, its monuments, and to help the whole world immerse itself in French culture at its most extraordinary. To create this unprecedented show, I wanted to bring together a team of personalities from different backgrounds, each gifted with their own sensibility and writing." 

Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024, said, "As we unveil the artistic team for the Opening Ceremony, we are delighted to announce the four talents who will deliver this unique show: Fanny Herrero, Leïla Slimani, Patrick Boucheron and Damien Gabriac! This wonderful, multidisciplinary, daring and gender-balanced team has created a founding story for this celebration that we are delighted to present to you on the banks of the Seine on 26 July". 

"It is thanks to their imagination, their words, their vision, translated by the artistic team into the most beautiful expression of the performing arts, that the extraordinary odyssey of the Paris 2024 Games will come to life," he added. 

Fanny Herrero commented, "I grew up in a rugby dressing room, following my father, then in a volleyball dressing room as a player. My respect and affection for athletes is immense. When I was offered a role in the writing process of the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony, I accepted, overjoyed at the idea of joining this collection of remarkable and intimidating talents who have given  me so much during this months-long team effort." 

"I brought my skills as a screenwriter to the table and tried to unfold a great variety of registers and emotions in these 12 sequences, to show the world what a complex, multifaceted, ever-changing entity France is," she added. 

Leïla Slimani said, "For a novelist like me, used to working in deep solitude, it was wonderful to imagine, together with people I admire, such a great ceremony. To tell what France has contributed to the world and what the world has contributed to France. And with Paris as our stage, a city inhabited both by the dreams of artists from all over the world, as well as by strangers who come in search of magic, love or freedom." 

"I was eight years old in the bicentenary of the Revolution of 1789, and I still remember the emotion I felt at that great moment of collective joy. Ten years later, I moved to France. I tried to bring my eye as a writer from here and there, as an immigrant, as a woman. It is such a joy to have written as one with the sole aim of making people dream, of forgetting for a moment what divides us and enjoying the happiness of being together," she added. 

Patrick Boucheron said, "As a historian of urban freedoms and the power of images, how could I resist Thomas Jolly's offer to help write the opening and the closing ceremony? It was perfect to show what history can do when it resists the dictates of identity. The story of a space where collective imaginaries are shared, where everyone can find themselves, and acknowledge France's place in the world, and the world's presence in France". 

"When Thomas approached me with this opportunity, I jumped at the chance as I have always been passionate about sport and the performing arts. I couldn't have asked for a better gift. I have been working with Thomas for years as a writer, actor and playwright," said Damien Gabriac. 

"We know each other through and through, we share the same philosophy, we do not hierarchise any culture, we appreciate Molière and Britney Spears, a good Pasolini film and a World Cup final. It is in this eclectic, poetic, political and rallying spirit that I have thrown my body into this Seine river, as a true heir of Jean Vilar and André Malraux," he insisted. 

Fanny Herrero has been a scriptwriter since 2006. She has worked on several series across the French audiovisual landscape, honing her sense of character and drama in very different worlds - the crime comedy Les Bleus, the historical drama A French Village for France 3, the epic Odysseus for Arte, the family comedy Fais Pas Ci Fais Pas Ça (Don't do this, don't do that) for France 2, and the political comedy Kaboul Kitchen for Canal Plus. 

Creator of the series Dix Pour Cent (Call My Agent!), she also helped to establish the figure of the French showrunner as head writer. A real success in France and internationally, it was awarded Best Series and Best Screenplay by the Association des Critiques de Séries in 2016, the Crystal Globe for Best Series in 2018 and 2019, Best 52' Series at the 2018 La Rochelle Festival and the International Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series in 2021. 

She created and directd the miniseries Drôle (Standing Up) for Netflix and is a founding member of Le SAS, a group of scriptwriters who have influenced the development of French series in the 2010s. Fanny Herrero has a special bond with sport: the daughter of rugby player and coach Daniel Herrero, she played volleyball at a high level, spent her teenage years studying sports and won several caps for the French youth team. 

Born in Rabat, Leïla Slimani is a Franco-Moroccan journalist and writer who was acclaimed for her first novel, In the Ogre's Garden and won the Prix Goncourt in 2016 for Lullaby, at the age of 35. She joined the magazine 'Jeune Afrique', focusing on social issues in the Maghreb and West Africa. Influenced by feminist writers such as Simone de Beauvoir and Virginia Woolf, Slimani's literature explores the female condition and power relations. 

In her works, she defends universalism, the struggle for dignity and the rejection of racism, one of the Olympic values. Internationally acclaimed for her work, which has been translated into more than 35 languages, she has received numerous awards abroad, where she represents a modern, intercultural vision of French literature. She is a leading figure in the fight for freedom of expression and individual rights in the Maghreb countries. 

Patrick Boucheron is a professor at the Collège de France, where he has held the chair of 'History of power in Western Europe, 13th-16th centuries' since 2015. A specialist in the political and urban history of medieval Italy, he has developed an original approach to symbolic power, the communal experience and urban space: at the intersection of these various interests, he has published around 20 books, translated into many languages.

Her most popular books include Léonard et Machiavel (2008), The Power of Images (2013) and France in the World: A New Global History, which has had a considerable impact. As an editor and producer of programmes and documentary series for public radio, he defends the voice of a committed and learned discourse at the heart of the public use of history. It is also in this spirit that he has recently stepped up his theatrical experiments. 

Damien Gabriac is an actor, writer and director who trained at the Rodez Theatre School and at the National School of Dramatic Arts of the National Theatre of Brittany under the direction of Stanislas Nordey in several shows: Cris by Laurent Gaudé, Peanuts by Fausto Paravidino, Scorched by Wajdi Mouawad, The System by Falk Richter, The Just by Albert Camus, John by Wajdi Mouawad, etc. From 2006 to 2011, he worked with Roland Fichet. 

Both on stage and as a director, he took part in a project of four shows entitled Comment Toucher (How to touch), linking West Africa, Central Africa and Brittany. In 2010, he joined Jolly, with whom he worked on William Shakespeare's Henry VI and Richard III, followed by Les Tantalides. He moved to Jolly's Le Quai Theatre in Angers, where he revived Henry VI and Richard III in a 24-hour version, and starred in The Dragon by Evgueni Schwartz. 

As a writer, he is also responsible for Le Point de Godwin, which he directed at the Avignon Festival; Box Office, directed by Thomas Jolly in 2013; and Chronicles of the Avignon Festival, television episodes for the 70th anniversary of the Festival.