PARIS — Aiming to ramp up its investment in films, TF1 Group is rebranding and launching TF1 Studio, a French mini-major which will bring together TF1 Droits Audiovisuels, TF1 Vidéo, and TF1 International.
TF1 Studio will be involved in movies from the ground up, handling acquisition, development, co-production and multi-platform distribution – theatrical, e-cinema, video, VOD, TV, SVOD — as well as international sales. As such, TF1 Studio, a sister company to France’s leading commercial channel TF1, will be able to attract a wider range of project and compete with other integrated French film groups such as Studiocanal and Gaumont.
Olivier Jacobs, formerly head of TF1 Entreprises (which covers music, games, licences and publishing) and TF1 Video, will oversee TF1 Studio. A duo of TF1 vets, Nathalie Toulza-Madar and Tristan du Laz, will co-manage TF1 Studio.
“With TF1 Studio, the TF1 Group strengthens its involvement with cinema, with the goal to develop a popular and ambitious editorial line while also integrating passion projects to be shared with the widest possible audience,” said Toulza-Madar.
Tristan du Laz, who launched TF1’s digital cinema platform last year, said the idea behind TF1 Studio was to be “firmly anchored in the digital world, capable of launching artistic projects and supporting them throughout their full exhibition cycle.”
The company’s digital cinema platform has released Blake Lively starrer “The Age of Adaline” among other English-language films.
TF1 Studio will comprise eight subdivisions: French and international co-productions and development (headed by Emilie Pégurier and Romain Brémond), acquisitions (headed by Colombe de Cerf), theatrical and e-cinema distribution (headed by Cédric Troudet), home entertainment (headed by Pierre Olivier), VOD, EST, SVOD distribution (headed Jérôme Loré), international sales (headed by Sabine Chemaly), TV and SVOD sales in Europe and France (headed by Coralie Chave) and library.
TF1 Films Production, which is the film division of TF1, will also be headed by Jacobs and will remain independent.
TF1 Studio is expected to partner up with a company that will handle French theatrical distribution. Discussions are ongoing with a few shingles including Orange and Sony, according to insiders. TF1 previously had a deal with UGC which included French distribution and ended in October 2015.
