StudioCanal Launches Genre Label, Jed Benedict to Run

Scott Roxborough
·2 min read

European production powerhouse StudioCanal has announced the launch of its first-ever genre label and has appointed former Studiocanal UK exec Jed Benedict to run it.

Benedict held various positions at Studiocanal from 2012 through 2020 including as senior acquisitions manager in the U.K., picking up such titles as David Mackenzie’s Hell or High Water, Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan, S. Craig Zahler’s Dragged Across Concrete, and Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar winner Another Round. In 2020, Benedict shifted to Danny Perkins’ CAA-backed U.K. distributor Elysian Film Group, becoming its head of acquisitions and development.

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Benedict will be based in the U.K. and report to StudioCanal’s executive vp, global production Ron Halpern. The new, as-yet-unnamed genre label will encompass film and TV series development, production, and distribution, focusing on exploiting StudioCanal’s catalog of some 9,000 titles across a century of movie history. In a statement, Benedict said the new label would focus on “horror, thriller, sci-fi and action where storytellers need not run from the darkness. Our goal is to be synonymous with films that dare to explore, that are fearless in their storytelling, which unlock the imagination with high concept narratives and above all else, give audiences one hell of a ride.”

“We are thrilled that Jed Benedict is returning to StudioCanal to launch this label,” said Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh. “His knowledge of content, his international network and his expertise in acquisitions, development and production make him the ideal profile to develop StudioCanal’s genre content. This new label will increase our presence in the market which has many dedicated genre enthusiasts we want to cater for, and it comes with high ambition to announce projects under Jed’s curation in the months ahead.”

StudioCanal, a subsidiary of the Vivendi-owned Canal+ Group, has production and distribution operations across all nine major European markets — France, the U.K., Germany, Poland, Spain, and Benelux — as well as in Australia/New Zealand and the United States and finances, produces and distributes around 80 films per year. Its film line-up includes the Paddington and Shaun the Sheep franchises and the upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black. The company also has a line in European action films, including 2014’s Non-Stop with Liam Neeson, Idris Elba-starrer Bastille Day (2018) aka The Take and 2015’s The Gunman starring Elba and Sean Penn.

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