Media-Participations’ Claude de Saint Vincent

PREMIUM: Media-Participations CEO Claude de Saint Vincent tells TV Kids Weekly about the keys to bringing comic-book characters to television, embracing digital media and the strengths of the French animation sector.

Media-Participations is a publishing powerhouse in France, home to the iconic graphic-novel and comic-book labels Dargaud, Dupuis, Le Lombard and Lucky Comics, among others. It is also a dominant force in the animation sector with its six studios, among them Ellipsanime Productions and Storimages, while Mediatoon Distribution brings titles from the in-house producers, as well as third parties, to clients across the globe. As CEO, de Saint Vincent is leading the organization through dramatic changes in the publishing and audiovisual businesses.

TV KIDS: The company has many lines of business. What role does the audiovisual segment play in the overall organization?
DE SAINT VINCENT: It has increased [in the last few years]. We took over a few libraries and we opened a new studio. So right now our library offers more than 3,000 hours of animation, which I think should put it among the largest European catalogs. Our audiovisual activities—production, sales, direct nonlinear broadcasting—represents about 10 percent of the annual turnover of the group.

TV KIDS: How is the commissioning landscape for animation in France today?
DE SAINT VINCENT: I don’t think it has changed a lot. There are many broadcasters and we work with most of them. However, the breaking news is the announcement, last year, that France 4 is going to progressively but surely stop its linear children’s programming broadcasts, and at the time reassess its nonlinear strategy and offerings. In addition to the main broadcasters—France Télévisions, TF1, M6, Gulli and Canal+—we have the state funds and the regional funds, which are helping production. So France and Europe, especially Belgium with the tax shelter, have become interesting territories for co-production. There are many examples, not only with us but with other producers, of non-European IP that came to life thanks to partnerships with French and European producers. For instance, Garfield, a definite American icon and IP, has been published in the French language by Dargaud for over 30 years. And it was well adapted by a French producer, Dargaud Media, for The Garfield Show. We produced 214 episodes between 2009 and 2015. And we are right now working on a brand-new series called Garfield Originals, which is in 2D.

TV KIDS: France is being celebrated at MIPTV this year. What are the main strengths of the local animation sector?
DE SAINT VINCENT: We have many young and new animation producers; it’s a very dynamic market right now. We have the fortune of having strong regulations that require our main broadcasters to produce animation and to invest in these sectors. We really hope this will continue. And we have regional funds that are investing in promoting local studios, helping to finance our productions. We have one of the best animation schools in the world with Gobelins. Most of its students are picked up by Pixar/Disney and other major international producers. So we have a very rich ground, schools, subsidies, interest from the government and fiscal incentives, combined with immense talents, thus making French animation number one in Europe.

TV KIDS: What challenges is the sector facing, beyond the upcoming closure of France 4?
DE SAINT VINCENT: Twenty, thirty years ago, we used to have in each country two or three major broadcasters with strong budgets. Now we have 40 poor broadcasters! [Laughs] The audience has been decreasing, so we’re dealing with partners who are not as strong as they used to be. Worldwide actors such as YouTube, Netflix, Apple, Amazon, are new sources of revenue and new competitors. And we have to deal with a world with fewer and fewer borders.

TV KIDS: How do the publishing and animation divisions collaborate to bring beloved comic-book characters to life?
DE SAINT VINCENT: By being part of a group housing several publishers, our in-house producers have the opportunity to work very closely not only with the editors but with the authors. We always associate the artist and the writer to our productions/TV shows. Some are very eager to participate in the productions. Some of them have no time for it! It’s easier for us because we know our authors very well. For instance, we’ve been working with Jim Davis [creator of Garfield] since the end of the 1980s. So we have the confidence of the authors. That’s very helpful in bringing to life those adaptations without betraying or angering our authors. The first key to successful adaptations is very close cooperation with the original artist. Last year we delivered The Fox-Badger Family, which also comes from a graphic novel published by Dargaud. We had the same director, Philippe Vidal, working on The Garfield Show for almost ten years. So we have long-term relationships with the authors, a long-term relationship with our team, and we publish over 200 graphic novels a year and have been doing so for the last 30 years. We have a huge library to look for new themes, new heroes, new subjects. At the same time, we also are developing original series, not always based on books.

TV KIDS: What digital opportunities are you exploring within your publishing business?
DE SAINT VINCENT: Nine years ago we launched a platform with all the French publishers for graphic novel comics from France and Belgium, izneo. We have over 10,000 books available. It controls 60 to 80 percent of French graphic novel digital reading. On izneo you can access the first five pages of all those titles for free. Digital reading in France is not as advanced as in the U.S. market, so it’s still a tiny market, but in 2018, izneo’s turnover was over €3 million, so it’s starting to pick up. And it’s increasing every year by 30 or 40 percent. We would be thrilled to have the same growth in all the other media!

TV KIDS: Are the group companies producing more short-form content for digital platforms?
DE SAINT VINCENT: Yes. Garfield Originals will mostly be on websites or direct services from the broadcasters. It’s 2.5-minute episodes. And we are currently developing a short-form series, adapted from the comic book Roger & His Humans, written by France’s number one YouTuber, Cyprien.

TV KIDS: Looking ahead, what are the priorities you are focusing on for the group?
DE SAINT VINCENT: Keeping production very active. We have three to four new shows coming. We’re trying to acquire additional smaller libraries. We feel that with the new worldwide market, big is becoming more and more beautiful. When you deal with Netflix, Amazon or Apple, it’s much better to have 3,000 hours of a library behind you than just one new series to propose. So we keep consolidating our library. We’re very active, and we look at every opportunity.
We are publishers, we are producers, we are distributors, and we have a small video-game arm, called Anuman Interactive. Last year we released two important games, one with Asterix and the other one was called Gear.Club. One of the objectives will be to associate this video game company more with our production activities to be able to produce and sell at the same time a television show and a video game, and if possible a graphic novel.