Plan B Parent Company Mediawan Takes Majority Stake in Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Mieli’s New Production Banner Our Films

Plan B’s pan-European parent company Mediawan has taken a majority stake in Our Films , the new production and film financing company formed by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli , the award-winning Italian producer duo behind “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend.”

Mediawan Rights Banks On Agility, Premium Content to Step Up Global Ambitions

Based in Rome, Our Films reunites Gianani and Mieli, who exited their respective Fremantle-owned banners, Wildside and the Apartment, earlier this year. The pair, whose flair for talent has shined through their impressive track record over the years, will continue working with European, U.S. and international filmmakers and talent across features, documentaries and series.

Gianani and Mieli also have a co-production deal with Fremantle under which they will continue to shepherd a number of projects that they initiated at Fremantle, some of which are hot titles world premiering at the Venice Film Festival, such as Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” starring Daniel Craig; Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic “Maria”; as well as the eight-part limited series “M. The Son of the Century” by Joe Wright, which chronicles Benito Mussolini’s rise to power. More projects are in the pipeline and will be co-produced over the next few years.

In an interview with Variety , Gianani and Mieli say they hope to produce around five to seven movies per year at Our Films, including two to three TV series annually. They also want roughly half of their slate to be non-local projects. Already fully staffed with about 35 people, Our Films will unveil its inaugural roster in the fall.

Our Films joins Mediawan’s prestige portfolio of more than 80 production labels, Brad Pitt’s Plan B (“Bob Marley: One Love”) in the U.S., France’s On Entertainment (“Miraculous”), Hugo Selignac’s Chi-Fou-Mi (“Beating Hearts”), Dimitri Rassam’s Chapter 2 (“Limonov, the Ballad of Eddie”), Italy’s Palomar (“The Count of Monte Cristo”), as well as Drama Republic and Misfits Entertainment (“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story”) in the U.K and Wiedemann & Berg Film (“The Lives Of Others”) and BeetzBros Film Production (“Eternal You”) in German-speaking territories. Mediawan also has a partnership with Florian Zeller and Federica Sainte-Rose’s Blue Morning Pictures in Los Angeles.

Gianani and Mieli previously collaborated with Mediawan labels on high-end projects, such as “Limonov, the Ballad of Eddie” which Wildside co-produced with Chapter 2. Florian Zeller’s adaptation of Stefano Massini’s play “The Lehman Trilogy” has also been developed at The Apartment Pictures.

Mieli, who created The Apartment Pictures at Fremantle in 2020 and has notably produced “The Hand of God,” Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” and Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope,” says the friendship with Pierre-Antoine Capton, Mediawan’s co-founder and CEO, and Elisabeth d’Arvieu, Mediawan Pictures CEO, goes back seven or eight years.

“We teamed on several projects before and when Mario and I decided to reunite and start a new company outside of Fremantle, Mediawan was the first one to reach out and on both sides it felt like something we wanted to do,” he says.

“Mediawan is led by Europeans,” Mieli continues. “That’s one of the important things for us and I think we share the same DNA in terms of what we want to do which is creating a production and creative hub in Europe for filmmakers from all over the world, focused on original, independent movies and TV series that can work for international audience.”

“We are delighted to welcome Lorenzo and Mario, two of the industry’s most accomplished producers of internationally acclaimed films and series, who inspire us with their taste and modern creative edge,” said Capton and d’Arvieu in a joint statement. “Through Our Films, we are reinforcing our ambition to bring together the greatest talent behind the best content worldwide,” added the pair.

D’Arvieu, who engineered the investment deal in Our Films with Capton, says Italy is “one of the major European markets, along with France and Germany.” She pointed out Mediawan’s “ambition of bringing to the international market more and more ambitious projects in English language and even in local languages,” and the unique position of Italy which has lucrative coproduction deals with Germany and France, as well as boasts top filming destinations. But d’Arvieu notes that Mieli and Gianani’s international mindset is what ultimately brings them on the same page as Mediawan. “Most of the producers within Mediawan want to speak to a global audience. So for us, it’s much more about addressing the global market and bringing these European IP’s, incredible European talents and series and movies to the international market,” says the executive, who did not disclose the deal’s financial details but said they were “coming together for the very long term.”

While Gianani and Mieli are from Italy, they stand out from local producers because they’re not solely interested in homegrown productions for Italian audiences. “In the last eight years, Mario and I have wanted to use the European way of making movies and TV series and focusing on international, English language audiences all over the world and especially the U.S.”

Mediawan's Elisabeth d'Arvieu on Key to Studio's Success: 'We Guarantee Independence'

Gianani and Mieli’s efforts to forge bonds within the U.S. and international film community have been rewarded because they’ve given filmmakers an arena to tackle daring projects that studios aren’t making and U.S. indie producers can’t fully finance on their own.

“It’s always been a matter of explaining to filmmakers that there is a place in the world called Europe, and sometimes Italy, sometimes France, where they can go and do their own challenging projects that have become so complicated to make,” says Mieli, citing the “fear of big studios and distributors to finance movies” caused by the “theatrical disruption” that the pandemic has prompted; and “the fact that streamers are focusing more on their domestic product.” But despite those concerns, Mieli says the “numbers of viewers and audiences for movies is still huge or even increasing. You just need to be very smart, very light and very fast.”

Gianani says he and Mieli like to challenge filmmakers through “conversations.” “We talk a lot and develop a lot and that’s where the trust starts.” This emphasis on development is something that Mediawan also values and is willing to invest in, says the producer, whose credits include “The Eight Mountains” which won the jury prize at Cannes, the Italian box office smash “There Is Still Tomorrow” directed by Paola Cortellesi, along with Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov.”

As they’ve built strong connections with filmmakers during their times at Fremantle, Mieli and Gianani say they’re aiming to continue working with some of them on a project-by-project basis as they’ve always done. Referring to Guadagnino, Mieli points out “We did two movies together, and then he did one with someone else. I was just an executive producer on ‘Challengers.’ So it’s really about opportunities.”

“We will keep on working with many of them, and we also want to work with many others that we are approaching. So there is a natural and very easy flow,” says Mieli, adding that “Obviously, we don’t want to steal anything from anyone.”

He says that although Our Films is “not against working on the long-time basis with filmmakers,” he (doesn’t) think that producers should have a studio approach, but rather nurture “creative conversation and strategy with filmmakers and protect them.” That said, they’re not opposed to the prospect of signing first-look deals with talent and are now actively sourcing projects.

“Our Films symbolizes our partnership with artists. Through our efforts and financial resources, we commit to protecting and sharing with our creatives the control, empowerment, and freedom necessary to uphold the integrity of their art,” said Mieli and Gianani in a joint statement. Together, they produced the “The Young Pope” and “The New Pope” both created by Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino for HBO; Luca Guadagnino’s “We Are Who We Are,” also for HBO; and Saverio Costanzo’s “My Brilliant Friend” adapted from the best-selling novels written by Elena Ferrante and translated worldwide.

Mediawan now spans 13 countries including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Benelux, and the U.K. in Europe, alongside operations in Africa, Asia, and the U.S. Mediawan’s best known IP and productions span “Call My Agent,” “Three Body Problem,” “Bob Marley: One Love,” “Miraculous Ladybug,” “The Agency,” The Count of Monte Cristo,” “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” “HIP/High Potential” and “One Day.”

After presenting eight movies at Cannes, Mediawan will return to the festival circuit at Venice Film Festival with the opening night film, Tim Burton’s film “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” produced by Plan B; as well as Jon Watts’ “Wolfs,” also produced by Plan B and starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Mediawan will also have in competition the French movie “And Their Children After Them” directed by Zoran and Ludovic Boukherma, and produced by Chi Fou Mi; in addition to the Plan B-produced documentaries “One to One: John & Yoko” directed by Kevin Macdonald, and “Apocalypse in the Tropics” directed by Petra Costa.

Mediawan CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton on Breaking Barriers to Build One of Europe's Biggest Independent Production Groups