Europe’s MediaOne Enters $107M Series Co-Development Agreement
France’s MediaOne Group and private equity firm Entourage Ventures have entered into a co-development deal under a €100M ($107M) fund.
The pair will work together over a period of four to six years to finance the series “with strong international potential”. Underpinning the operation will be a €100M Entourage fund.
MediaOne is coming off the back of its attention-grabbing deal for Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, while Entourage Ventures is a film and TV financier that has invested more than €50M ($54M) in 40 French films. It pushed the first TV series to 2020 through a deal with producer Media Musketeers.
Entourage will work with MediaOne Rights, the sales arm of MediaOne, to co-develop, co-produce and co-distribute the series.
Investments and revenues will be shared 50/50, with MediaOne handling Series Distribution and Entourage providing investment expertise and an ecosystem of professional investors such as private equity firm 123 investment managers, film and audiovisual industry social protection group Audience and Hottinguer Bank.
The deal covers drama, animation and doc series and includes several existing MediaOne Rights projects viz joro And civilizationAn adaptation of Laurent Binet’s best-selling novel and some from MediaOne Kids & Family Distribution.
“We are equipping ourselves to continue to invest heavily in the most ambitious productions but also to support a greater number of projects,” said Elizabeth D’Arvieu, CEO of MediaOne Pictures. and Valerie Vlishower, CEO of MediaOne Rights, in a statement.
“We are delighted with this association which offers new opportunities for creative talent, for a European creation with an open vision, which travels far and speaks to an international audience.”
Entourage Ventures Co-Founder and Managing Partner Matthias Nicodem added: “The strong intellectual property pool in the European series, the fundamentals of these assets and the context of the new financing requirements for the streaming platform make this partnership with MediaOne a very attractive opportunity. ”
