From ‘F1’ to ‘Slow Horses’ to ‘Call My Agent!’: Mediawan Executives Take Madrid Spotlight

French media and entertainment group Mediawan Group, whose production portfolio includes Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, is known for being behind such global hits as Slow Horses (See-Saw), Adolescence and F1 (both Plan B). On Wednesday, the studio took the spotlight at the sixth edition of Iberseries & Platino Industria in Madrid, Spain’s capital.

Elisabeth d’Arvieu, global content officer at Mediawan and CEO of Mediawan Pictures, and company chief operating officer Matthieu Thollin appeared on stage in a session entitled “Spotlight Mediawan: Creative Independence, Global Expansion, and European Identity,” which was moderated by Gersh Agency partner Roy Ashton.

At a time of media mega-mergers, how does Mediawan think about its business? “In an environment, in a world where all our clients are concerned, or big clients are getting bigger and bigger by concentration, we need to be stronger and stronger,” d’Arvieu said. And the company is using different production and co-production models to remain flexible to the needs of each specific project. “Because we have very strong distribution and a big history of co-productions between countries, we are sometimes able to also do some black diamonds,” she concluded.

Mediawan also offers its banners gap financing, with the exec mentioning a third of the targeted budget, with its Mediawan Rights arm then selling the projects “everywhere on the international market,” she added. “That’s part of the model. … This is a big advantage that we are bringing to our producers, supporting them in their development and supporting them in their independent production by being able to also finance and invest in their content, and sell [it] internationally.”

d’Arvieu also noted that the “massive” 20-25 percent that global streamers must invest in French content under the country’s streaming programming quota benefits Mediawan as a producer.

Speaking of streamers: some shows are too big to do without collaborating with one of them. “For some shows, we know that it’s almost impossible to do them outside of the universe of a streamer when it is a massive project,” she noted. “And by the way, streamers are more and more open to windowing or to co-production themselves. We announced a couple of weeks ago that we are doing a [Tudor drama] show for the BBC called 1536 with a great new writer called Ava Pickett. We were able to raise the financing between the BBC in the U.K. and HBO in the U.S., and it’s a co-production. … That’s what allowed us to get the show done. So what’s important in this difficult and ever-changing market is to stay nimble, very agile.”

Nimble was a word that came up at least one other time during the session. “We stayed nimble,” d’Arvieu said in highlighting one of Mediawan’s key success formulas. “The central team is very lean.” Also, “a common DNA, a common vision of the market” across the various production banners despite their differences is important.

Thollin emphasized that the core team approaches work with a focus on “content first,” after which budgets and the like get discussed.

Getting the most out of hit franchises is also part of the company’s playbook, just like that of Hollywood giants. The name of the game is “developing the IP to the maximum, as we did with Miraculous, which is one of our biggest animation IPs,” d’Arvieu mentioned.

Or take Call Your Agent as an example. “You start doing a French version, then you do the Italian version, then you send the rights to the Korean version to an external producer, then you do a movie, then we are thinking right now of doing a live show, a play,” the exec shared. “Not all the IPs have the potential, but some of them do.”

The success of Slow Horses, which Mediawan’s See-Saw Films produces for Apple, also came up on Wednesday. The show launched well before Mediawan acquired a 51 stake in the producer last year, d’Arvieu mentioned, before adding proudly: “It is very hard to get those returning shows. So, for them it’s very important. And it’s a chance for us. It’s a proven success every season. The new season has launched. … It’s one of those rare IPs and jewels that we cherish. And Apple has been an extraordinary partner.”

Asked about Mediawan’s use of brand integrations, the exec pointed to Plan B’s F1: The Movie as “a great example,” pointing out that its $650 million in box office ensures “the exposure that you want.”

Quizzed about changing U.S. market trends, d’Arvieu said: “The co-production market in the U.S. was almost closed for the past two or three years. It’s reopening a little. So that’s the good news. That’s the good news, particularly for U.K. companies, for drama. Not all the buyers in the U.S. are yet open to it, but I think they will all come to it.”

Europe has a chance to leverage its advantages here, she also argued. “The chance for Europe is being able to produce shows at much cheaper budgets than in the U.S., but with the same quality and bringing U.S. or international cast to Europe,” offered d’Arvieu. “They all have budget constraints, and they all need content to compete. So this is one of the strong competitive advantages of Europe – being able to produce those very high- and premium-quality international shows for the U.S. That is something that we strongly believe.”

French comedy Call My Agent!, one of the popular Mediawan shows, came up repeatedly during the session. “It’s just an excellent show that is very well written and character-driven,” d’Arvieu said about it. The series debuted on France Télévisions’ France 2, but was then sold to Netflix, giving it international exposure. “It was a local show, but we wanted to make it into an international success,” she explained. The next step was an Italian version for Sky Italia, followed by more international local versions, including a U.S. version that is in the works at HBO. And, of course, there is the recently launched movie for Netflix, featuring guest appearances by George Clooney and Eva Longoria.

The spotlight Mediawan session came as the company, which is made up of around 100 production firms across 15 countries, including the U.S., Australia and Europe, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

Earlier in the conference day, creators of series that address far-right politics, the climate crisis and more discussed whether great dramas can change the world.

On Monday, Iberseries saw Amazon MGM Studios executives discuss the success of the Mercedes Ron young adult novel adaptations and Spanish zombie horror film Apocalypse Z, while Parrot Analytics shared data trends and estimates for the subscriber impact of Netflix’s Argentina hit series The Eternaut. And a YouTube top executive predicted more Obsession– and Backrooms-style film hits from online creators.