Veteran French Media Executive Romain Bessi Joins rhe Creatives as CEO

French media executive Romain Bessi — who played a key role in building France’s Newen Studios and StudioCanal into international powerhouses — is joining the indie trenches as the leader of an alliance of indie production companies known as The Creatives in the newly created role of CEO.

Bessi, who in February left his CEO post at Newen Studios, has been entrusted by the nine member companies of The Creatives with setting up a “unique integrated structure for the alliance and launching a first financing round for a new form of studio owned by its producers,” according to a statement.

The Creatives member companies are Haut Et Court (France), Lemming Film (Netherlands), Maipo Film (Norway), Razor Film (Germany), Spiro (Israel); Unité (France), Good Chaos (U.K.), Masha (U.S.) and Komplizen Film (Germany).

These prominent indies, whose footprint spans eight countries, have spawned a total of some 330 films, such as “The Lobster,” “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” post-Bataclan attack drama “You Will Not Have My Hate” and Sandhya Suri’s “Santosh,” which is the U.K.’s submission to this year’s international feature film Oscar race. On the TV side, they’ve generated more than 50 shows including “The New Pope” and Clive Owen crime drama “Monsieur Spade.”

The Creatives came together in 2021 as a long-term partnership between the member companies to forge co-productions, strategic joint ventures, share information and combine networks. “Its founding synergies and shared values include culture, respect, inclusion and environmental responsibilities,” the statement said.

“It’s an organic alliance because they’ve worked together for five years,” Bessi told Variety. “They’ve done a lot of co-productions together, they like each other, trust each other. So all the synergies, all the good things you can find in a group, are already in place and you can capitalize on that.”

Bessi added in a statement, “After almost 30 years in the industry, this feels like the most natural step in my career, and certainly the most exciting. The companies that are part of the Creatives Studios certainly stand out in the industry, and together they bring unparalleled creative and business capacities, which will be further magnified by being part of this group.”

“Romain’s commitment to The Creatives is a very strong signal from the market place, we are very happy to build a unique form of studio with his experience and understanding of our collective project,” said Haut Et Court CEO Carole Scotta, who is the founder of The Creatives Studios, in the statement.

“We’re thrilled to have Romain Bessi join us as CEO,” commented Jonas Dornbach CEO and partner of Germany’s Komplizen. “His vision for combining growth and diversity isn’t just strategy — it’s about reshaping what’s possible in the entertainment industry. With his leadership, we’re ready to push boundaries and take The Creatives to another level.”

Bessi will join his fellow The Creatives members at a panel on Tuesday during Rome’s MIA Market to discuss the future of the alliance, which reps an innovative indie business model at a time when the constraints of global market forces make it ever more crucial for producers to join forces.