Michel Schmidt, deputymanager of France's StudioCanal, has left the company.

At present, there is noreplacement for Schmidt and his next steps are not known. Neither Schmidt norStudioCanal chose to comment on the departure although it is understood that itwas based on a mutual agreement.

Schmidt joined Canal from hispost as head of international sales at Gaumont in 1997 to become director ofsales and marketing for Canal subsidiaries.

Throughout the VivendiUniversal merger and the subsequent housecleaning at Canal, Schmidt was one ofthe only old guard executives to maintain his position.

StudioCanal has been goingthrough a re-organization since the collapse of Vivendi Universal withpresident Frederic Sichler at the company for just over a year, scaling back onbig budget productions and concentrating on mid range local films.