CEO Romain Bessi says the new model is a "natural step" for the leading European group, which will now become "a one-stop shop" for commissioners and distributors Fast-growing European studio Anton Studios is taking a minority position as a partner and investor in The Creatives. The group, first founded as a long-term strategic partnership in 2021, is moving into a solidified company, with a jointly owned holding structure. The new model will see The Creatives become the first European-rooted producer-owned group of its scale in film and television, with Romain Bessi remaining as CEO.
The Creatives consists of some of the leading production companies in Europe, as well as one each in Israel and the U.S. They are Haut et Court and Unité in France, Komplizen and Razor Film in Germany, the U.K.’s Good Chaos, Lemming Film in Netherlands and Belgium, Maipo Film in Norway, Spiro in Israel and the U.S.’s Masha. Led by Sébastien Raybaud, Anton’s projects include “In Love,” starring George Clooney and Annette Bening; “Pumping Black,” starring Jonathan Bailey and Natalie Portman; and the crime thriller “My Darling California,” featuring Jessica Chastain, Chris Evan, Chris Pine, Mikey Madison and Don Cheadle.
Anton’s investment in The Creatives reinforces the financial strength of the group and provides additional access to equity financing. The Creatives will be formally created at closing, following technical steps expected to take a few months. Bessi brings three decades of experience in production, distribution and broadcasting, having built two international studios in Newen Studios/Studio TF1, which he led as chairman and CEO within the TF1 Group until 2024, and Studiocanal, where he served as group COO.
Prior to this, he served as CFO for the Canal+ channels in France and CEO for Canal+ in the Nordics. Speaking with Variety, Bessi said this consolidated company was “always the point.” “Five years ago, all of these producers decided that, because they didn’t want anyone to buy them out and they wanted to share their expertise and contacts, they would create a form of club, where they would informally meet every month and co-produce together,” he added. The Creatives had several other offers, but they had a number of strict demands for whoever would come in as a financial partner.
They had to be European; they had to be someone who understands the industry—meaning that you can have good years and bad years, and you need to take some risk. That was very important.” Finding the investor was “not so easy,” because the model built by The Creatives is “very new in the industry.” All 17 producers in the group are shareholders and control the group. Usually, you have one person or company who gets the shares and the control.
Because of that, some investors were a bit concerned about the governance of the group,” Bessi said. Lastly, we needed someone we knew, and I knew Anton very well because it was created 15 years ago, to implement a state financing deal for Studiocanal. At that time, I was the CEO.” In the end, the producers decided in favor of Anton.
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