‘Coda’ Backer Pathé Talks Growing TV Team, Streamer Collaborations & France’s Media Chronology As The Euro Cinema Giant Looks To The Future — EFM

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: European film giant Pathé, which owns more than 1,000 cinema screens across the continent, will always be a theatrical-first business.

That doesn’t mean it can’t also move with the times.The French major, whose lifeblood is film exhibition, production and distribution, is riding high off this week’s three Oscar nominations for Coda.

But the company is also hiring multiple staff in its fledgling TV division and lining up content collaborations with streamers as it looks to diversify its portfolio in a rapidly shifting media landscape.Joining Pathé’s TV head Aude Albano in Paris are Development Manager for Series, Gauthier Foll, formerly of WeMake, and Legal Manager Business Affairs for Series, Lise Bouley, formerly of Lagardère and GMT. “We’re structuring the team now”, explains Pathé President Ardavan Safaee.Also joining the group on the film side in Paris is Executive Vice President of Business Affairs Thibault Demaison who joins from local production firm Elephant.The plan is to begin filming TV productions next year.

As previously revealed, the slate includes a series based on Napoleon from Jean-François Richet (Mesrine), and a drama about a Black musketeer, one of a handful of Pathé projects based in or spun off from the Alexandre Dumas universe.TV is a long-term play.