With a solid strategy focused on alliances with leading companies in the content production sector in France and other European countries, Mediawan continues to consolidate its position as one of the most important media groups in Europe, not only in the segment of broadcasters but as a content developer.
Pierre-Antoine Capton, CEO of Mediawan, announced two recent major announcements: the high-profile acquisition of Plan B, Brad Pitt‘s production company, and the investment agreement with Entourage Ventures, a well-known film production finance company. With the first, the executive announced that they are already in the development of joint productions, and with the second, they signed an agreement whereby both companies would invest in series of ‘global reach’.
‘We are already working on the first development and co-production projects with Plan B and our production units in France’, says Capton, who also comments that with Entourage, the alliance is agreed for a period of six years: ‘With them, we are working in line with Mediawan Rights to co-develop, co-produce and co-distribute dramatic, animated and documentary series with a global interest. The goal is to strengthen both the Mediawan Rights catalog and our global development strategy,’ he adds.
In the case of the agreement with Entourage Ventures, the executive anticipates that the investments and income will be shared 50%, while Mediawan will assume responsibility for the distribution of the productions, and Entourage will contribute its expertise in co-investment issues and its ecosystem of professional investors, including 123 Investment Managers, a private equity firm; Audiens, the social protection group for the film and audiovisual industry; and the Hottinguer Bank.
The operation will be supported by a €100 million Entourage fund, which will seek to cover future productions, as well as a slate of existing Mediawan Rights projects (such as Zorro, and Civilizations, adaptation of Laurent Binet’s best-seller) and Mediawan Kids and Family Distribution, the structure of the group dedicated to projects aimed at children and families (such as The Little Prince & Friends, and Robin Hood season 4, among others).
In France, the group is a shareholder of the Chapter 2 companies, responsible for the Three Musketeers saga and also Chi-Fou-Mi, the team behind November, the film based on true events directed by Cedric Jimenez.
In addition, outside of France, Mediawan is the parent company of production labels: ON Kids & Family, makers of Miraculous, as well as Mon Voisin Productions and Septembre Productions, behind the French TV hits Call My Agent! and HPI. And in the rest of Europe, they have the production brands Drama Republic (UK – Doctor Foster), Palomar (Italy – Montalbano) and Boomerang TV (Spain – Ines of my Soul).
The executive comments that in most cases, when they acquire the majority stake, they leave a large part of the creative decisions on the founders and original owners of the acquired company: «We seek to take the production value of the unit to a new level creative that we acquired’, he explains in the case of the production company Plan B, the company that last year developed Father of the Bride, the biographical drama Blonde, She Said, and the acclaimed Women Talking.
The executive mentions that Mediawan will try to have an «even greater» presence worldwide, with great focus on the USA, through strategic alliances as it did with Plan B, and anticipates that it is in talks with the playwright Florian Zeller, who he recently made his directorial debut with the award-winning The Father. “We are also in talks with Federica Sainte-Rose to launch a new production team based in Los Angeles, Blue Morning Pictures. With both deals, Mediawan is buying more than shares, it is investing in talent and forming long-term partnerships with them,’ he concludes.
