Mediawan buys McQueen indie Misfits

French giant Mediawan has dipped back into the M&A market acquiring a majority stake in McQueen producer Misfits Entertainment. 

The indie led by Emmy Award-winning and Bafta-nominated filmmakers Ian Bonhôte and Andee Ryder is behind Bafta-nominated McQueen, an intimate portrait of the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen. 

Founded in 2016, it was also part of the creative team behind Rising Phoenix, the double sports Emmy-winning documentary about elite athletes and insiders reflecting on the Paralympic Games, produced in association with by Passion Pictures, HTYT Films and Ventureland. 

Elsewhere, Misfits produced four-part Sky Documentaries series Kingdom of Dreams with Fremantle, a “visually dazzling chronicle” of the ‘golden age’ of fashion, and is reuniting the team behind McQueen for forthcoming doc Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which will premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. 

Last year, Broadcast revealed the indie had hired Lady Boss producer Lizzie Gillett from Passion Pictures to the newly created role of head of documentary. 

It is the latest UK outfit which Mediawan has consolidated, following deals for youth and family-focused indie Wildseed Studios and The English producer Drama Republic – which was purchased through its joint venture Mediawan & Leonine Studios.  

Elsewhere, the French production-distribution company also splurged reportedly several hundred million dollars on a majority stake in Brad Pitt’s outfit Plan B in December 2022. 

Elisabeth d’Arvieu, chief exec of Mediawan Pictures, said: “This new partnership represents a significant opportunity to strengthen Mediawan’s international footprint and grow our premium documentary slate. Mediawan has had big hits in the documentary genre in the last few years, including The Stadium for Paramount +, Orelsan – Don’t ever show this to anyone for Prime Video, and Gregory for Netflix.  

“And to build on, we are thrilled to greet new creative teams within Mediawan, such as Oscar-winning producer and filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (via the joint venture with Plan B) and now Misfits. The excellence of their creative vision, as well as their reputation as producers are in complete alignment with our ambition and our commitment to the careful nurturing of top talents.” 

Ryder and Bonhôte added: “We are thrilled to join the Mediawan group. It was apparent to us early on in our conversations that Mediawan shared our ambition and vision for the future of Misfits Entertainment. With our genre agnostic approach to filmmaking, we are proud of what we have achieved in the first few years of our company in the international marketplace.  

“The partnership will help us to grow our documentary team and support us to make bigger strides in the scripted global marketplace to align with what we have achieved in documentary.”