European giant Mediawan has restructured its TV distribution operations after combining with Leonine Studios, resulting in a handful of senior exec departures and two new hires.
The move comes after Paris-headquartered Mediawan merged with Germany-based Leonine last year and will see the latter’s global TV sales activities brought under the Mediawan Rights umbrella.
Former NBCUniversal and Sky exec Patrick Phelan, who joined Leonine Studios as director of world sales in 2020, is departing along with Eric Rouillé, who was senior vice-president of global distribution and consumer products at Mediawan Kids & Family.
Mediawan Rights’ head of scripted Charles Touboul also recently left the company, while acquisitions exec Emmanuel Eckert stepped down earlier this year. There are believed to be no other job cuts as part of the reshuffle.
Mediawan Rights has retained the Leonine Studios’ sales teams for German-speaking territories (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), with Christiane Goldberg continuing in her role as senior vice-president of license sales.
Marc Arndt is vice-president of digital distribution & marketing, while Steve Blank remains senior license sales manager in the new set-up.
Gaumont & France TV hires
The Zorro and Miraculous distributor has also hired former Gaumont exec Benjamin Lepetit and Mediatoon alum Marie Lassal as part of the rejig.
Lepetit, who was previously head of acquisitions at Federation Studios and head of TV distribution at Gaumont, becomes vice-president of content at Mediawan Rights, which continues to be led by Valérie Vleeschhouwer.
He will be responsible for expanding the company’s acquisition strategy and supporting the development of its catalogue, while accelerating pre-sales and co-production deals.
Lassal becomes head of global partnerships and new business at Mediawan Kids & Family, which continues to be chaired by Julien Borde.
Her remit includes oversight of the commercial development and pre-financing of TV and digital content for Mediawan Kids & Family, working with the group’s animation studios to finance series, innovate in business models, and lead commercial teams.
Lassal has previously been instrumental in reviving franchises such as Barbapapa and Hello Kitty, and has had stints at Watch Next Media, Normaal Animation, France TV Distribution and Mediatoon.
It is believed the hires are not straight replacements for departing execs but part of a new organisational structure for Mediawan Rights, whose catalogue now runs to more than 30,000 hours.
Titles range from The Count Of Monte Cristo and recently released Kabul, to Zorro and Tom and Lola, to well-travelled Troppo and Netflix drama One Day from the UK’s Drama Republic.
The merging of Leonine’s sales operation marks the latest development for Mediawan, which was founded in 2015 by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse with backing from private equity companies including KKR. The latter was also a major backer of Leonine Studios.
The group has acquired a raft of companies over recent years including Plan B, Drama Republic and Misfits, adding Heartstopper and Slow Horses firm See-Saw Films to its roster earlier this year.
The company now operates more than 80 production labels in France, Germany, England, Italy, Spain, the US, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Australia, Senegal and Ivory Coast, with much of their output being sold by Mediawan Rights.
Mediawan Pictures chief exec Elisabeth d’Arvieu recently said that the company was looking to bolster its English-language productions, with the company seeing such shows as providing key co-production and US sales opportunities.
This story first appeared on Screen’s sister site Broadcast.
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