Pierre Weisbein, the formerhead of sales at StudioCanal, has quit the diminishing French film operationand joined LA-based Senator International as executive vice president,international sales and distribution. Weisbein starts with Senator today.

The Frenchman, who is basedin LA, will play a key role in evaluating projects for Senator's production andacquisition slate while supervising international sales. He reports to companypresident Joe Drake.

"Pierre is a salespowerhouse who is truly plugged into our buyer's needs and has a critical andexacting eye for new projects," said Drake in a statement. "His intensity,respected leadership and well-established relationships with buyers andfilm-makers will enable us to take our company to the next level. Pierre'spresence will also free me up to continue growing our overall business."

At StudioCanal, Weisbein wassenior vice president, international, where he was responsible for foreignsales on all StudioCanal films including The Pianist, Mulholland Drive and Jet Lag a slew or rights to which he sold to Miramax Films at Toronto lastyear. He was also involved in acquiring projects such as Ed Solomon's Levity.

Prior to this, Weisbein wasvice president, sales, Americas and Asia at StudioCanal, overseeing sales anddistribution of the Canal Plus catalogue which is composed of over 5,000 titlesincluding the Carolco library.

Senator International, theLA financing and distribution arm of Germany's Senator Entertainment, has anumber of projects on the go including two from a joint venture productionlabel formed with Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert - Boogeyman and 30 Days Of Night, as well as David Fincher's Lords Of Dogtown and Vincenzo Natali's Nothing.