EXCLUSIVE: Ask Elisabeth d’Arvieu in regards to the motion pictures that encourage her and he or she out of the blue sparkles with enthusiasm. “The Godfather, clearly,” the Mediawan Photos CEO presents, earlier than reminiscing about childhood recollections of “all of the Hitchcocks” and Brian De Palma’s early work. By this level, she’s late for her subsequent appointment, however can’t assist unspooling an inventory that spans Parasite and Emilia Pérez, the latter of which she has seen thrice. “I’ve been obsessive about motion pictures since I used to be a little bit youngster,” d’Arvieu laughs.
It’s a small window on what’s making Mediawan magnetic for among the world’s prime creatives, not least Brad Pitt’s Plan B and Florian Zeller’s Blue Morning Photos. These inside the group discuss animatedly in regards to the light-touch management of d’Arvieu and CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton, in addition to the straightforward, easy artistic conversations they share. “They’re good individuals in it for the best causes,” says Roanna Benn, co-CEO of Drama Republic, the U.Ok. producer behind Netflix hit sequence One Day.
Elisabeth d’Arvieu
Based a decade in the past, Mediawan will not be the younger pretender it as soon as was, nevertheless it stays a disruptor. The corporate enters the Cannes Movie Competition with a few contemporary feathers in its cap: Plan B’s Netflix smash hit Adolescence, which reframed the dialog round male violence; and its newest acquisition, See-Noticed, the British-Australian manufacturing firm behind Sluggish Horses and The King’s Speech.
Deadline understands that Mediawan’s 51% stake in See-Noticed values the corporate at round £100 million ($130 million) after it posted revenues of £116 million final 12 months. See-Noticed’s joint CEOs Emile Sherman and Iain Canning says the present market “rewards corporations with entry to bigger producer networks” and so they felt an “fast artistic and cultural affinity” with Mediawan.
Thomas Dey, the CEO of ACF, the funding financial institution that brokered the See-Noticed deal, describes the Heartstopper producer as being quietly multifaceted. He factors to its bases in London and Australia, its movie and TV slate, and its “treasure trove” of IP, which incorporates The NeverEnding Story, a franchise at present being readied for a big-screen revival. “A number of the consumers got here in and nearly realized about how [See-Saw is set up],” Dey provides.
When requested for her elevator pitch to potential new companions, d’Arvieu launches right into a 10-minute monologue by which she espouses “full independence,” finance for IP buys, a gross sales arm that may bridge funding gaps, and direct entry to Mediawan’s management crew. Mediawan additionally tends to accumulate with money and share choices, an unusual supply that it hopes incentivizes manufacturing companions to attempt for group progress. Plan B’s co-president Dede Gardner says: “They’ve been supportive and really true to their phrase. Once we first met, they mentioned: ‘We simply need you guys to maintain being you and doing what you do.’ They’ve honored that.”
‘Adolescence’
“A few years in the past, we weren’t the primary studio [sellers] would consider,” d’Arvieu continues. “Now, as we’ve been rising and constructing our popularity out there, extra of them attain out to us naturally.”
Dey, who frequently offers with all the foremost European manufacturing teams, says Mediawan was agency however honest in negotiations. “We did all our dancing and waving our fingers, and so they reduce via the center of it,” he says.
Mediawan’s web site says it was based with one aim: to “create an area the place creativity may thrive.” However what does business success appear like? D’Arvieu is emphatic that Mediawan doesn’t have a income goal like some rivals (perhaps sensible after Fremantle’s €3 billion—$3.4 billion—goal was kicked into the lengthy grass earlier this 12 months). After combining with German big Leonine Studios in 2024, Mediawan revealed that it had gross sales of €1 billion, which is lower than a 3rd of its French compatriot, Banijay. D’Arvieu says personal fairness backers, together with KKR, “proceed to assist” and will not be searching for an exit after investing as a part of Mediawan’s de-listing from the Paris Euronext in 2020. Others observe that 5 years could be a level at which enterprise capitalists get itchy toes.
“KKR needs to ship a message that scale will deliver increased margins,” says François Godard, a senior media analyst at Enders Evaluation. “The M&A scene will proceed to be dynamic, so we will count on Mediawan to continue to grow.” The corporate refinanced final 12 months, elevating a €500 million mortgage and a €225 million revolving credit score facility, which analysts say will fund acquisitions. D’Arvieu says Mediawan is unlikely to embark on a purchasing “frenzy”, however will as an alternative goal companions that share the identical “creative imaginative and prescient as us”.
Bono poses in the course of the ‘Bono: Tales Of Give up’ photocall on the Cannes Movie Competition
D’Arvieu spoke to Deadline on the day that Cannes unveiled its 2025 official choice. Mediawan has two titles within the combine: Bono: Tales of Give up, Plan B’s Apple TV+ documentary in regards to the U2 frontman; and Sylvain Chomet’s animation The Magnificent Lifetime of Marcel Pagnol. D’Arvieu says the latter is “tremendous thrilling” as a result of it speaks to Mediawan’s DNA, melding a gifted (and Oscar-nominated) director with a French cultural icon, the late author and director Pagnol. And with that, d’Arvieu’s thoughts is as soon as once more within the motion pictures.
This characteristic initially appeared in Deadline’s Disruptors/Cannes. Learn the digital version right here.
