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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,...

European giant Mediawan has restructured its distribution operations after combining with Leonine Studios, resulting in a handful of senior exec departures and two new hires, Broadcast International can reveal.

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,...

Billionaire Rodolphe Saade’s family holding Merit France has taken a 20% stake in French cinema giant Pathe.

The investment will enable privately-owned family company Pathe, whose scope spans production, distribution and exhibition to accelerate its development in film and series production for projects with an international reach, and to modernise its movie theatres, Pathe said in a statement.

The announcement comes just as Cannes film festival is about to kick off where Pathe is behind opening night filmLeave One Dayand Martin Bourboulon’s late festival addition Kabul-set drama13 Days And 13 Nights, plus a robust market slate for its international sales arm.

Pathé, the storied French film producer and cinema operator founded in 1896, has agreed to sell a 20 percent equity stake to Merit France, the investment vehicle of logistics magnate Rodolphe Saadé’s family. Announced on Monday, the transaction comes as Pathé seeks fresh capital to underwrite a slate of internationally oriented productions and overhaul its European cinema network. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The news arrived just before the opening of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, where Pathé serves as both presenter and exhibitor. The company’s opening-title slot at Cannes is occupied by Leave One Day, directed by Amélie Bonnin, which follows a Parisian chef who returns to her rural hometown after her father suffers a heart attack. Pathé also backed Martin Bourboulon’s Kabul-set drama 13 Days And 13 Nights, a late addition to the Official Selection announced last week.

Chairman Jérôme Seydoux highlighted the deal’s timing. “This partnership...

French film studio Pathé has announced a strategic partnership with French Lebanese logistics tycoon Rodolphe Saadé, under which his family holding company Merit France has taken a 20% stake in the company.

Founded in Founded in 1896, Pathé is France’s biggest and oldest film company spanning production, distribution and exhibition. The company said the move would help accelerate its growth in an evolving macroeconomic and industrial landscape.

News of the investment fell on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival, where Pathé will be out in force this year with opening film Leave One Day and Martin Bourboulon’s fall of Kabul-set drama 13 Days And 13 Nights, which was a late addition to Official Selection last week.

The company added that the investment would be used in particular for the production of internationally-oriented films and series, as well as the modernization of its cinema network across Europe.

The Saadé family fortune...

Gold Derby's top news stories for May 8, 2025.

The Conjuring: Last Rites gets spooky trailer

The Conjuring: Last Rites, which is described as the last Conjuring film for Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga), got a new teaser trailer. The ninth film in the Conjuring Universe, one of the most successful horror franchises of all time, tells the story of the married paranormal investigators' final case, and the trailer invites viewers to "discover why this case was their last." The film is directed by Michael Chaves. It opens in theaters on Sept. 5.

Wow, a trailer for Owen Wilson's golf comedy Stick

Stick, Apple TV+'s new Ted Lasso-esque sports comedy series, has sent a trailer down the fairway. Owen Wilson stars as Pryce "Stick" Cahill, a washed-up former pro golfer who sees a shot at redemption by coaching Santi Wheeler (Peter Dager), an immensely talented but raw young athlete.

“Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet has assembled a high-profile international cast for his next film, “Violette,” based on Valérie Perrin’s literary sensation “Fresh Water for Flowers” (“Changer l’eau des fleurs”), which sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

Matthias Schoenaerts (“Rust and Bone”), Melvil Poupaud (“Jeanne du Barry”), Anouk Grinberg (“The Innocent”), Sergio Castellitto (“Conclave”) and Alban Lenoir (“Lost Bullet”) have joined the cast and will star opposite Cesar-winning French actor Leila Bekhti, who was previously announced.

“Violette” is produced by Carlo Degli Esposti and Nicola Serra at Palomar, and Thibault Gast and Matthias Weber at 24 25 Films. Both companies are owned by Mediawan. The production kicked off on May 5 for a 13-week shoot across Burgundy, the Paris region, and the South of France.

Co-written by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant, “Violette” sees Bekhti play Violette Toussaint, a beloved cemetery caretaker whose peaceful life – filled by conversations with quirky workers and the...

Eric Dane has revealed he’s been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Als).

The actor, 52, told People magazine on Thursday, “I have been diagnosed with Als. I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”

Als, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a “nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Als causes loss of muscle control. The disease gets worse over time,” according to the Mayo Clinic. There is no cure for the disease.

While Dane didn’t share many details surrounding his diagnosis, the actor — who plays Cal Jacobs, the Jacobs family patriarch on Euphoria — also told People he’s returning to set next week to continue filming season three of the hit HBO show.

“I feel fortunate that I am able to continue working and am looking forward to returning to set of Euphoria next week,...

There are few better places than Series Mania’s industry Forum to gauge the mood of the scripted TV industry. For three concentrated days this week, execs from the international TV business gathered in Lille to talk business, scout for shows and to swapideas.

Screendistillsthe key conversation points from the 2025 edition.

Stability returns – but the market has shrunk

Peak TV is very much over: globally, scripted TV orders are running about 25% below the peak TV era, Ampere Analysis said in a Series Mania presentation. But there is a newfound stability in the series market, which has levelled out after the...

For Pamela Adlon, starting to watch a new show can be a treacherous thing.

“I have Ocd so if I start something, I’m screwed. I know I’ve got to see this through,” the multi-hyphenate explained, kicking off the jury press conference for this year’s Series Mania.

Adlon, a multiple-Emmy nominee for her writing and acting work on FX’s Better Things and Louie, has been binging on some the best in global TV as head of of the international jury at the international television festival, which runs through March 28 in Lille, France. She joined her fellow jurors — Downton Abbey and Better Call Saul director Minkie Spiro, award-winning French actress Karin Viard (The Bélier Family, Polisse), U.S.-Argentine actor Ignacio Serricchio (Bones, The Young and the Restless), and French musician and composer Victor Le Masne — to talk up the small screen highlights of this year’s competition.

International series do not lack scale and ambition.

The lineup of this year’s Series Mania, the TV festival and industry meet that runs through March 28 in Lille, France, includes historic epics like Joe Wright’s rise-to-fascism biography Mussolini: Son of The Century, real-life action thriller Kabul, which traces the fall of Afghan capital to the Taliban in 2021, and Liongate’s spy drama The German, from the creators of Fauda and Tehran, about Holocaust survivors recruited to track down Nazi war criminals.

Add to that the screenings at the festival’s upfront event, held Monday, March 24, where top-tier buyers get a sneak peek at upcoming international series. The 10 featured upfront shows include German fantasy epic War of the Kingdoms, Korean sci-fi series S Line and Swiss thriller The Deal, starring The Broken Circle Breakdown star Veerle Baetens as a diplomat tasked with brokering last-chance nuclear negotiations between the U.S.

The Taliban’s sweep to power in Afghanistan in 2021 serves as the backdrop to “Kabul,” one of France’s most ambitious international thriller dramas to date.

The six-part geopolitical show, which is world premiering today at Series Mania in Lille, emerged from the first-hand experience of producer Fabienne Servan-Schreiber who played a direct role in the chaotic evacuation efforts.

While vacationing in Greece with her son (and fellow producer) Matthias Weber, Servan-Schreiber heard of the situation in Kabul and got fully involved in efforts to rescue multiple families of Afghan artists and doctors.

Speaking to Variety along with Weber on the eve of “Kabul”‘s presentation at Series Mania, Servan-Schreiber says she was initially contacted by Jean-Michel Frodon, a film historian and journalist, who was looking for help to raise funds to buy plane tickets for a group of Afghan artists.

“I sent the email to everyone in my address...

With the television industry continuing its painful transition from the peak TV era, it’s perhaps a surprise that Series Mania is expecting more international executives than ever to attend its 2025 edition, running March 21-28.

Laurence Herszberg founded the event in 2010 with some 250 industry attendees. This year, organisers are expecting around 4,500 accredited professionals in Lille, up 5% from last year, and 84 exhibitors at the industry-focused Forum, 25% more than last year.

Despite a global tightening of budgets and Series Mania taking place just weeks after Mip London and the London Screenings, organisers say they have seen no slowdown in the quality or...

With the television industry continuing its painful transition from the peak TV era, it’s perhaps a surprise that Series Mania is expecting more international executives than ever to attend its 2025 edition, running March 21-28.

Laurence Herszberg founded the event in 2010 with some 250 industry attendees. This year, organisers are expecting around 4,500 accredited professionals in Lille, up 5% from last year, and 84 exhibitors at the industry-focused Forum, 25% more than last year.

Despite a global tightening of budgets and Series Mania taking place just weeks after Mip London and the London Screenings, organisers say they have seen no slowdown in the quality or...

Drama fans and industry execs descending upon the northern French city of Lille for Series Mania this year can expect stars, politics and premieres. Christina Hendricks will walk the purple carpet, while the spine of the shows in the International Competition skews political this time.

With scores of new series premiering, talent coming to town, and a sizeable industry component, the event will set the stage for the year ahead in scripted TV.

“When I created Series Mania, I was saying that series can reflect our world and Series Mania is where you put them in the light,” founder and General Director Laurence Herszberg tells Deadline, just weeks before the festival commences.

Surveying the International Competition line-up, she addresses the political themes in several series. If it’s a 2025 drama trend, the Series Mania chief is fine with that.

“I studied and am really interested in politics, and Series Mania is a place for artists,...

The London TV Screenings, or London Screenings for short, the global TV industry event running Feb. 23-28, is ready for its close-up. The once low-key affair, where networks and sales outfits screen their latest shows for international buyers, has grown to can’t-miss status over the years. 2025 will be London Screenings’ time to shine, particularly without any competition from the now-defunct Mip TV.

That said, Mip will be holding its own inaugural Mip London event during the week, featuring panel discussions on industry trends, hot new properties from the likes of South Korea and Japan, as well as a session with David Beckham and Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria.

The London Screenings come at an inflection point for the global TV industry. After a sustained boom in high-end drama, networks, and streamers are again cutting costs and betting more on lower-cost non-fiction and reality shows. In the fiction arena,...

Unifrance has unveiled its extensive lineup for the 15th edition of Series Mania, set for March 21 to 28. This year, the festival will showcase a selection of 48 series from 20 countries, including 22 French shows, promising a feast for the eyes of TV enthusiasts and industry professionals alike.

The Series Mania Forum, the festival’s industry component, will run March 25 to 27, welcoming over 4,200 professionals from more than 70 countries. In this context, Unifrance will host the tenth Coming Next from France on March 25, spotlighting five new French series poised to make waves on the international market. These series, including France TV’s “Kitchen Hustle,” Have a Good One’s “Fake,” Mediawan Rights’ “Don’t Know,” Newen Connect’s “Montmartre” and Oble’s “Jailbreakers,” have been selected to demonstrate the diversity and innovation of French scripted TV.

Produced by CG Cinema, “Kitchen Hustle” turns on three women who dream of working in high-end dining but encounter an elitist,...

Mumbai-born actor Zahid Ali has carved a unique niche for himself in the Indian entertainment industry, earning the moniker “Indian Godzilla” on social media. Known for his powerful portrayals across films, television, web series, and advertisements, Ali has consistently demonstrated his versatility and dedication to the craft.

Zahid Ali’s journey in the world of acting began with the esteemed Ank Theatre Group under the guidance of the late Shri Dinesh Thakur. As a repertory artist for a decade, he honed his skills in stage performance, eventually catching the eye of veteran actress Deepti Naval. His breakthrough came when Bollywood’s legendary filmmaker Subhash Ghai introduced him in the magnum opus Saudagar, where he played the young Dilip Kumar (Veeru/Veer Singh).

Zahid Ali has delivered several memorable performances in Bollywood films. One of his most notable roles was that of Brigadier Baig, the primary antagonist in Bhuj: The Pride of India,...

Mumbai-born actor Zahid Ali has carved a unique niche for himself in the Indian entertainment industry, earning the moniker “Indian Godzilla” on social media. Known for his powerful portrayals across films, television, web series, and advertisements, Ali has consistently demonstrated his versatility and dedication to the craft.

Zahid Ali’s journey in the world of acting began with the esteemed Ank Theatre Group under the guidance of the late Shri Dinesh Thakur. As a repertory artist for a decade, he honed his skills in stage performance, eventually catching the eye of veteran actress Deepti Naval. His breakthrough came when Bollywood’s legendary filmmaker Subhash Ghai introduced him in the magnum opus Saudagar, where he played the young Dilip Kumar (Veeru/Veer Singh).

Zahid Ali has delivered several memorable performances in Bollywood films. One of his most notable roles was that of Brigadier Baig, the primary antagonist in Bhuj: The Pride of India,...

French festival Series Mania has revealed its lineup, featuring Joe Wright’s “Mussolini: Son of the Century,” “Querer,” a huge hit at San Sebastián, “Empathy” and “Hal & Harper.”

Amanda Seyfried will present “Long Bright River,” while Pamela Adlon is set to deliver a masterclass. Adlon will also preside over the International Competition jury.

Denmark’s “Generations” will celebrate its world premiere at the fest, as well as “Kabul,” “The Deal” and “The German.”

In the International Panorama Competition, Trine Dyrholm will introduce “The Danish Woman.” She’ll be joined by other world premieres “A Life’s Worth,” “Raul Seixas: Let Me Sing” and “Reunion”. “Requiem for Selina,” “At the End of the Night,” “Celeste,” “Family Matters” and “Putain” will also be shown, as well as “What it Feels Like for a Girl.”

Among other highlights, “Carême” (Apple TV+) starring Jérémie Rénier and Lyna Khoudri, will open the festival. “Hpi” will close it,...

As the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s industry arm, Agora, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, organizers are looking to maintain the right balance for an event that continues to grow in stature while retaining its carefully curated, almost intimate feel.

To that end, industry head Angeliki Vergou — an Agora veteran who assumed her current post in 2022 — is pragmatic in her approach to the Thessaloniki event and where it fits into the broader marketplace. While several thousand exhibitors and industry professionals will descend on Las Vegas next week for a whirlwind, new-look AFM, Vergou stresses that the Agora is determined to maintain its “friendly,” personal approach.

“We really want to keep having this scale of a market — not too big, but the right amount of professionals coming and meeting with each other,” Vergou tells Variety. “Our specialty is to nurture talents and offer them their first experience in a market. An...

An adaptation of Edith Wharton novel The Custom Of The Country by Mary Queen Of Scots director Josie Rourke is among 16 new projects backed by the Düsseldorf-based regional film fund Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw (Fms).

€600,000 in production funding was allocated by Fms to Rourke’s planned adaptation of Wharton’s 1913 novel.

The tragicomedy of manners about a Midwestern girl attempting to ascend in New York society is currently structured as a German-uk co-production between Cologne-based Mo Co-Production, a single purpose company set up by augenschein Filmproduktion, with Charles Finch’s Rabbit Foot Films.

Finch was recently a co-producer of the...

Polish director Olga Chajdas continues chasing different projects as she follows Netflix’s “1983,” HBO’s “The Border” and award-winning features “Nina” and “Imago” with the new six-episode historical drama “A World Divided.”

“A long time ago, I promised myself I wouldn’t repeat myself, ever,” she explained to Variety. “I lean towards fiction, so it seemed intriguing, but I wasn’t interested in making another documentary about World War II. We focus on real-life characters. Some are more famous than others, but we keep things subjective, trying to reflect what they were experiencing at that very time.”

She co-directed the show with Frank Devos.

“We decided to ‘split’ the characters. I ended up focusing on women, Frank focused on men, but only because these were our favorites. It was an interesting process because we work very differently. He’s read all the books and was concentrating on the factual layer.

Exclusive: Writer and producer Anna Winger, best known for popular projects like Unorthodox and Deutschland 83, will be the headline guest of this year’s Agora Series programme at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece.

Launched in 2022, Agora Series is Thessaloniki’s forum for series production in Greece and the broader Eastern Εuropean and Mediterranean region. This year’s edition will run from November 2-3.

Winger will take part in an onstage Q&a moderated by Rachel Eggebeen, Chief Content Officer at Amplify Pictures. The session will be held in partnership with Oxbelly and will be based on the work of a showrunner. Topics will include what exactly is involved in being a showrunner on a TV series.

The 2024 Agora Series will further feature a case study presentation on the forthcoming drama series Kabul, with producers Fabienne Servan Schreiber (Cinétévé), Matthias Weber (24 25 Films), and executive producer Sandrine Paquot in discussion with Faye Tsitipi,...

Paris-based Kinology will handle international sales for “Ogresse,” a musical directed by Grammy-winner Cecile McLorin Salvant and acclaimed animator Lia Bertels.

Spearheaded by Miyu Productions and adapted from a stage show that Salvant has toured since 2019, the animated fable mixes digital 2D and stop-motion alongside a wealth of musical styles ranging from ballads to jazz waltzes to baroque lamentos, setting to song the plight of a misunderstood outsider living alone in the woods and the heartache of young knight sent to fatally win her heart.

After claiming two prizes out of the Annecy Animation Festival’s Mifa pitch session last year, the international co-production has emerged as an industry buzz title, winning support from the likes of Claude Barras, who will co-produce and provide stop-motion assistance through his Lausanne-based Helium Films banner.

Other production partners include Belgium’s Umedia, Luxemburg’s Melusine Productions (“The Swallows of Kabul”) and American music,...

With Euphoria Season 3 on a perma-hold, the regular cast members are making good use of their time away.

Today, Deadline exclusively reported that Eric Dane will star with Jensen Ackles and Jessica Camacho in the upcoming Prime Video series Countdown.

The series, a thriller, comes from former One Chicago showrunner Derek Haas.

Other Euphoria stars have been extraordinarily prolific in their downtime from Euphoria.

Zendaya, who plays Rue Bennett, has become one of the biggest stars in America thanks to her role on the show and how she uses her time away wisely.

She’s starred in the Dune series and was recently seen in Challengers, which scored at the box office and in fans’ hearts.

Related: The Age of the Renewed Limited Series: Is Network Execs' Fear of Commitment Bad For TV?

Hunter Schaefer, who plays Jules Vaughn, has starred in four productions and has three in post-production, while...

Exclusive: Eric Dane (Euphoria) has been tapped to star opposite Jensen Ackles and Jessica Camacho in Countdown, Prime Video’s thriller drama series from One Chicago veteran Derek Haas.

His casting shouldn’t be alarming news for Euphoria fans. According to sources, there have been some promising signs as work on Season 3 scripts continues with creator Sam Levinson. Amid a production delay, HBO in March allowed the cast to take other acting jobs.

Should the network proceed with a third season — which I hear is still targeting a start of production later this year for a 2025 debut — filming will have to be done around the schedule of cast members like Dane who have booked new gigs. That is considered challenging but doable. Since March, Dane also signed up for pan-European miniseries Kabul, which is currently in production.

Countdown starts following a suspicious murder in broad daylight, which leads to LAPD...

Mediawan Rights, the distribution arm of the wider media group, manages scripted, unscripted, format and feature documentary sales, keying European content onto international airwaves. And if initially heritage titles, foreign-language fare and time-tested perennials made up much of the catalogue, the group’s expanding footprint and well-capitalized partnerships promise a new yield of premium fare developed in-house and marked by global ambitions.

“We’ve seen a radical shift,” says Mediawan Rights CEO Valérie Vleeschhouwer. “Our catalogue from six years ago has little in common with that of today. We really wanted to move upmarket, to increase our own creative output in both fiction and documentary distribution to better respond to global demand. [In doing so] we’ve gone from being a local player to a truly international one.”

As distribution titles like the Emmy-winning doc “Kubrick by Kubrick” and the Dutch thriller “The Golden Hour” travel far and wide – with the former selling...