Banijay Group Takes Stake in Italian Production Outfit

MILAN: Banijay Group has taken a minority stake in the Italian production company DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself), which was set up by Fabrizio Ievolella, Danila Battaglini, Francesco Lauber and Leopoldo Gasparotto.

DRY’s founding producers have been involved in the production of such format as Masterchef, X Factor, Pechino Express, 4 Ristoranti and Undressed. The plan is to produce local versions of hit international formats, as well as to create and develop new, original formats for Italian and international markets.

Fabrizio Ievolella, the managing director of DRY, commented, “My business partners and I are very proud of our TV background but we have chosen the name DRY—Don’t Repeat Yourself—for a specific reason. We know that experience is important but sometimes involves the risk to become stuck in a rut. That’s why our goal is not to repeat ourselves and look to invent something new.”

Marco Bassetti, CEO of Banijay Group, added, “Banijay Group is at the forefront of groundbreaking and original content production. There is a great deal of creativity emanating from the highly motivated management team at DRY and we look forward to working closely with them and to effectively rolling out innovative formats around the world.”