By Variety | Created at 2024-09-24 14:55:20 | Updated at 2024-09-30 11:41:33
5 days ago
LeBron James’ and Maverick Carter‘s SpringHill Company shingle has struck a partnership with European indie studio Mediawan with an eye toward bolstering both companies’ presence in their respective territories. Under terms of the deal, Mediawan and SpringHill will develop and co-produce original film and TV projects.
The alliance with SpringHill gives Mediawan another entry point into the U.S. market alongside Plan B (of which it acquired a majority stake in 2022). The Paris-headquartered television and film production group is backed by KKR and was founded in 2015 by producer Pierre-Antoine Capton, telco billionaire Xavier Niel and financier Matthieu Pigasse.
Going forward, SpringHill and Mediawan also plan to collaborate on adapting their intellectual properties, including on a local basis, and look at potential new international distribution. The partnership already has several projects in the works — including the basketball-themed “Weekend Warriors,” which will be produced by SpringHill and Mediawan’s Plan B.
“Weekend Warriors” is based on the 2023 German-language comedy/drama feature “Weekend Rebels,” which followed the true story of Mirco and Jason von Juterzcenka, “a father and his autistic son who wanted to find a favorite professional soccer team and made his father take him to see every single one of them so he could decide.” Mediawan’s German film outfit Wiedemann & Berg produced the original.
On the flip side, “The Shop” — which began as part of SpringHill’s Uninterrupted label, before recently being spun out into its own entity — is now expanding to France via Mediawan. “The Shop” had already announced a U.K. version produced and hosted by Idris Elba; now, a French adaptation is being readied to target French-speaking countries in Europe and Africa. The Emmy-winning unscripted format, co-created by Randy Mims and Paul Rivera, centers on conversations with sports, music, film, TV and pop culture figures.
Originally produced for HBO, the U.S. version of “The Shop” now airs on a dedicated YouTube channel. The new French version will be adapted by Mediawan’s Black Dynamite Production.
“We are excited to deepen our relationship with Pierre-Antoine and the Mediawan team as it allows us, together, to bring to light authentic, impactful content for the world to experience,” Carter said in a statement.
The Mediawan/SpringHill partnership will cast a wide focus on projects, including movies, scripted and unscripted television series and animation. They’ll also look at local market production in North America, Europe and Africa.
“The more we’ve gotten to know Maverick, LeBron and the dynamic SpringHill team the more we have wanted to greatly expand our collaboration with them,” said Capton, Mediawan Group CEO and co-founder. “This new deal reflects our shared commitment to telling exciting original stories and a shared vision for adapting beloved favorites for new audiences around the world. Our first two projects, ‘Weekend Warriors’ and ‘The Shop,’ are just the beginning of what we anticipate will be a long and fruitful relationship.”
This pact with SpringHill underscores Mediawan’s strategy to join forces with high-profile creatives and producers to ramp up its presence in key markets, including English-speaking territories where the banner already boasts Plan B, which just produced Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and is behind the upcoming “Wolfs” with Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Mediawan now oversees more than 80 production companies globally; recent growth has also included a majority investment in Our Films, the new company from producers Lorenzo Mieli (“Maria,” “Queer”) and Mario Gianani (“The New Pope,” “My Brilliant Friend”) this year. Mediawan has also acquired German production-distribution group Leonine and a majority stake in U.K. producers Misfits.
The SpringHill Company’s recent projects include “Rez Ball,” directed and co-written by Sydney Freeland and “Reservation Dogs” creator Sterlin Harjo; “A Radical Act: The Renee Montgomery Story,” which comes to Roku in October; NBC’s “The Wall”; and Netflix’s “Starting 5” featuring LeBron James, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum and Domantas Sabonis premiering on Netflix next month.
