StudioCanal & Hachette strike expansive novel pact

France’s StudioCanal has struck a joint venture deal with publishing giant Hachette Livre that will see the companies partnering up to adapt the latter’s extensive library of novels.

The venture, to be known as On Screen, will look to develop and expand the number of TV and film adaptations based on Hachette Livre’s catalogue of 100,000 titles, with StudioCanal handling production and distribution.

The Playing Nice production group will assist Hachette to “capture greater value from its IP”, the companies said, while StudioCanal will gain “privileged access” to the publisher’s literary works.

StudioCanal will act as the “preferred studio partner”, working across creative packaging, financing, production and international distribution.

Hachette Livre is the world’s third-largest mainstream publisher with revenues of €3bn in 2025. It owns over 200 imprints, which together publish around 15,000 new titles each year in a dozen languages (mainly French, English and Spanish).

The publisher is owned by Lagardère Group, the French conglomerate that was spun out of Vincent Bolloré’s Vivendi, which also previously housed StudioCanal owner Canal+. Both are now separate companies in which Bolloré retains substantial stakes.

The move to partner with StudioCanal comes two years after the production group launched its StudioCanal Stories label, which is tasked with developing adaptations from literary IP.

The company previously partnered with Hachette Livre imprint Hodder and Staughton on the adaptation of JP Delaney’s Playing Nice for ITV, produced with James Norton’s Rabbit Track Pictures.

Arnaud Lagardère, chief exec of Hachette Livre, described today’s pact as “a new chapter in our ambition to build bridges from books to screen,” while Canal+ chief Maxime Saada said that the deal would deliver shows that could travel around the world.

“[This venture] marks an important step in our strategy to develop premium content from strong intellectual property. By working more closely upstream, we will be able to tell these stories in a different way and make them travel globally.”