European film stalwart Wild Bunch is undergoing an internal reorganization with the formation of Wild Bunch International, a subsidiary focused specifically on international film sales.
The demarcation establishes the existing Wild Bunch international sales department as a stand-alone company with the ambition for it to expand its portfolio of film financing and sales activities, including working with third-party partners.
Vincent Maraval will continue to lead the international team, which Wild Bunch says remains unchanged, from its existing Paris location. Parent company Wild Bunch SA will handle WBI’s administrative functions.
The German-French Wild Bunch Group last year struck a $130M financial restructuring plan with its creditors, including SWB Finance B.V., a company owned by Wild Bunch’s biggest German shareholder, Lars Windhorst. The backing was needed to reduce sizeable debt.
“For our international sales department, this streamlined structure offers exciting growth prospects that will benefit the entire Wild Bunch family from both a creative and financial perspective,” explained Vincent Grimond, CEO of Wild Bunch. “These limited changes create an opportunity for the Wild Bunch Group to spread its international sales costs on a broader portfolio of films, generating a positive impact on its overhead costs.”
“This reorganization will have nothing but a positive impact on our willingness and ability to attract new talents and to support and promote creative ambition” added Maraval. “This operation also comes from the desire of the international sales team to focus more on market changes and to diversify the services we want to offer talents and producers abroad”.
CAA, which has long represented the U.S. rights to Wild Bunch titles, will continue to collaborate with the company via WBI, the Euro company said.
Recent Wild Bunch films include Ladj Ly’s Cannes jury prize-winner Les Misérables; Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl, which received the Directors’ Fortnight SDAC prize at Cannes; and Young Ahmed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne who received the best director award on the Croisette.
Source: Read Full Article
