Endemol France restructures under Calmels

Endemol France CEO Virginie Calmels has reorganized the company, bringing all of its production outfits under a single brand and bringing in a former senior Canal+ executive.

All of the production brands, which include Case Productions, NAO, La Boîte2, SoNice Productions and Hubert Productions, will be unified under the Endemol Productions moniker. This entity will then be divided into genre-specific units.

Albert Benhammo will run the games and entertainment division with Philippe Stoltz and Isabelle Roche in charge of reality and documentary units respectively. Alexandre Drubigny, Canal+’s head of programming between 2001-2002 and founder of indie producer Think Factory, has been recruited as artistic director of Benhammo’s division.

Indie producer Miss France, previously run by Benhammo, will continue to exist as a separate entity.
Justine Ryst will handle Digital Development and Diversification under the new structure. Annelise Jacquemin has been named the new head of licensing and merchandising and Axel de Charentay is upped to director of branded content.

Endemol’s drama subsidiary, Endemol Fiction, will continue to handle development of scripted series.
Each of the production managers will report to Claude Lacaze, deputy general manager in charge of strategy, creation and development.

The changes come a week after Endemol France’s managing director of programming, Yves Bigot, left the company for radio station RTL.