France Télévisions, MarVista execs join Gaumont

Narcos studio Gaumont has hired execs from France Télévisions and MarVista Entertainment as it expands its sales offices in Paris and LA.

Cecilia Rossignol, Robby Amar, Cherie Johnson and Rebekah Zarbarsky have all joined the company, moves that follow the hire of MarVista’s Vanessa Shapiro as sales chief earlier this year.

Rossignol (right) joins from France TV Distribution (FTVD) to become VP of international television sales for drama.

She’ll be in charge of selling and pre-selling US and France TV programming within EMEA, and work on European coproductions, based out of Paris.

At FTVD, the sales arm of French pubcaster France Télévisions, she led catalogue sales to North America and several European territories.

Between 2014 and 2016, she was head of sales and acquisitions at 100% Distribution, and has worked at Newen Distribution.

Rossignol is the second France Télévisions exec to join Gaumont in a week, coming after Laura Laas was appointed VP of international sales for animation.

In LA, Amar (left) has been named VP of TV acquisitions and distribution, focusing on new shows from third party producers.

Amar, a former Rive Gauche Television exec, was most recently executive director of international sales at MarVista, meaning his new role reunites him with Shapiro, Gaumont’s president of worldwide TV distribution and coproduction.

Former Game Show Network exec Johnson joins from outdoor ad agency Kinetic and will become VP of marketing, overseeing strategic initiatives for international sales.

Zarbarsky will report to her after joining from talent management firm The Digital Brand Architects, with Rossignol, Amar and Johnson reporting to Shapiro.

Gaumont, the world’s oldest studio, has been restructuring its sales arm under Shapiro, with high-profile execs such as Erik Pack, Hana Zidek, Sam Semon and Tim Farish exiting earlier this year.

One key move has been to relocate the sales operation from London to LA, with some execs based in France.

“Twenty-seventeen will be a year of significant growth for Gaumont with over 40 drama series across multiple genres in development between our Los Angeles and Paris offices, and our new focus on acquisitions from third party producers,” said Shapiro.

“The appointment of these highly respected and accomplished executives will be of paramount importance as we move into the production of new content over the next few months both in the US, and with our European coproduction partners.”