Studio Canal COO Romain Bessi Exits

Studio Canal COO Romain Bessi has exited the company, Deadline has confirmed. Bessi’s exit is the latest exec shuffle to take place at the pan-Euro film and TV giant. The past year has seen much change at the Vivendi-owned company as Vivendi chairman Vincent Bollore has consolidated his control over proceedings.

Last summer, Bollore overhauled the entire corporate structure of Studio Canal parent, and pay TV giant, Canal Plus in a series of moves that sent shockwaves through the French film and TV biz. The biggest exec shakeup in a generation there saw former Canal Plus chief exec Rodolphe Belmer and chairman Bertrand Meheut leave, along with a number of other execs including former head of cinema Nathalie Coste-Cerdan and Studiocanal chief Olivier Courson. The latter two were replaced by Didier Lupfer, the former head of production and development at its Ubisoft Motion Pictures arm. Ubisoft Motion Pictures was set up in 2011 to adapt the likes of Assassin’s Creed for the big screen.

Manuel Alduy, who had been Canal Plus’ OTT and digital creation chief, and previously head of the film unit, exited the company on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival.

Bessi was a well-respected and long-serving Canal exec, having joined the company in 1997 and most recently heading up Studio Canal’s push into TV, with deals with the UK’s RED. He is believed to have left of his own volition.