Studiocanal Promotes Anne Cherel to International Sales Head, Current Movies
Part of an internal reorganization at Vivendi’s Studiocanal, one of Europe’s biggest film-TV companies, Anne Cherel has been promoted to head of international sales for current movies.
Cherel served from 2012 as SVP, international sales, at Studiocanal where she enjoyed a close working relationship with Anna Marsh, promoted in March to Studiocanal head of distribution for film and TV. Cherel will continue to report to Anna Marsh, taking over the sales activities previously overseen by Marsh when she was head of international film sales.
Cherel’s appointment comes a month after Yann Le Prado, the former CEO of Havas Productions, was named head of catalog at Studiocanal. Le Prado’s appointment coincides with European film-TV giant’s creation of three operational divisions: Film-TV production, distribution and catalog.
Marsh and Le Prado both report to Studiocanal chairman-CEO Didier Lupfer, who will be directly responsible for production, his central career focus and a priority for Vivendi and Studiocanal.
In a market revolutionized by global VOD platforms, the reorganization comes as Studiocanal, a subsidiary of the Vivendi-owned Canal Plus Group, is seeking to take greater advantage of the depth of its 9,000 title library. Unlike some other library owners, it can look to constantly refresh its library with recent titles, such as Liam Neeson-starrer “Unknown” or Ben Stassen’s “Sammy Adventures.” Studiocanal has also been digitizing and restoring back-titles.
The potential offered for catalog sales is matched by the exponentially-rising volume of production at Studiocanal on its TV side where, from April 2016, it owns or co-owns eight European TV production houses in five of Europe’s six biggest TV markets.
These equity partnerships are rapidly yielding first or new fruit. Three Danish series involving the Studiocanal co-owned SAM Productions, led by “Ride Upon the Storm,” created by Adam Price (“Borgen”), screened at April’s Series Mania in Paris.
Studiocanal-owned Tandem has kicked off development on drama series “Brazza,” with Havas Media’s Save Ferris Ent. and Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures, while Benedict Cumberbatch and Studiocanal, which share a TV production partnership, acquired movie rights to Matt Haig’s “How To Stop Time,” with Cumberbatch attached to star and exec produce. As Studiocanal grows as a major content powerhouse in Europe, production requires a special direct oversight from Lupfer.
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