Vuelta Group, the rising Paris-based European film studio which recently launched with the high profile acquisitions of France’s Playtime, Germany’s SquareOne and Scandinavia’s Scanbox, is expanding its footprint in Italy and France. <\/p>\n
Spearheaded by media finance veterans (and childhood friends) Jerome Levy and David Atlan-Jackson, Vuelta has bought Indiana Production, a leading Italian company founded by Fabrizio Donvito and Marco Cohen, which had Giorgio Diritti’s “Lubo” playing in competition Venice and just revealed its big-budget Netflix series project “The Leopard” and Sky’s “Unwanted.” Vuelta has also taken a stake in France’s Pan (formerly called Pan-Europeenne), the well-established production and distribution banner headed by Nathalie Gastaldo, Philippe Godeau and Camille Gentet, whose credits include the hit franchises “Largo Winch” and “Legendaries.”<\/p>\n
Vuelta Group bowed last year with more $100 million provided by a U.S. private equity firm and has now diversified its backing through its European partners. <\/p>\n
At a time of massive consolidation throughout the European film and TV industries, Vuelta isn’t looking to follow the acquisition model of other French media groups such as Banijay, Newen, Mediawan and Federation. Instead of buying out multiple production companies across many territories, Vuelta Group will operate as an integrated studio boasting production, distribution and international units through its several companies. European production and\/or distribution will be handled by Pan in France, Scanbox in Scandinavia, SquareOne in Germany and Indiana Production in Italy; while international sales will be handled by Playtime. The flexible approach will allow each banner to work autonomously with partners within the group or third-party companies, while become shareholders of Vuelta. <\/p>\n
“Our idea is to build a multi-territory indie company with entrepreneurs who have similar ambitions, values and a vision,” said Levy, Vuelta Group chair, who spent most of his adult life in New York and headed Archie Comics Publications (“Riverdale”) after working at Houlihan Lokey and Goldman Sachs. <\/p>\n
Atlan-Jackson, who previously co-founded Backup Media, said “It was especially important to find the right people because when we buy a company, we pay a part of it in cash and 50% in stakes.” That means “the management of each company that joins Vuelta becomes a full member of the family,” added Atlan-Jackson, whose production credits include “Still Alice,” which earned Julianne Moore an Oscar. <\/p>\n
Levy said the common denominator between all these companies that are now part of Vuelta is the profile of entrepreneurs behind these companies. “They have been running these businesses for more than 20 years and are willing to reinvest a big part of their work into our company. That was a big sign of trust in our vision.” <\/p>\n
Levy said being part of Vuelta will allow its partners to be more competitive in sourcing projects at an earlier stage and being able to co-produce and handle distribution, instead of “going to each market and being face-to-face with other companies in the same market.” <\/p>\n
Playtime, founded by will not sell every single film developed within Vuelta but will deliver estimates on projects, based on their expertise and discussions with Vuelta partners. <\/p>\n
On top of its busy production activities, Pan expanded its scope in 2022 with the relaunch of its distribution business and a new division dedicated to animation. Gastaldo said Vuelta was the right fit for Pan because they share “common values” and “understand the importance of independence.” Pan previously had corporate ties with Polygram in the 1990’s and Wild Bunch in the 2000’s. “With Vuelta on board, we will maintain our DNA and we’ll be able to consolidate our activities, while nurturing long-term relationships with talents and producing a diverse range of European movies for the global market,” said Godeau. <\/p>\n
Pan’s roster includes the third opus of “Largo Winch,” an action-adventure film which stars Tomer Sisley and James Franco and an animated adaptation of Guillaume Ivernel’s “The Legendaries.” <\/p>\n
Gentet, joint CEO of Pan, said Playtime will represent internationally certain films such as “Sous le vent des marquises,” while others, like “Largo Winch” or “Legendaries” will be sold by Goodfellas. <\/p>\n
Pan’s distribution slate, meanwhile, includes “The Consent,” a feature film based on Vanessa Springora’s bombshell book by the same name. <\/p>\n
Indiana Production, meanwhile, currently ranks as one of Italy’s most prolific purveyor of festival friendly, prestige arthouse movies such as “Lubo,” and upscale series for streamers such as “The Leopard” which was announced earlier this week by Netflix. The company is “in a landscape full of opportunities, becoming part of the Vuelta group represents for Indiana the best possible positioning to fully enhance our growth trajectory,” said Habib. “Integrating local and international production and distribution, within a new European home, will provide our talents and projects with the right scale and the best positioning.”<\/p>\n
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