European production group The Creatives has formed a jointly owned holding company, with Anton Studios acquiring a minority stake as a partner and investor. The companies announced the deal Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Romain Bessi will remain CEO of The Creatives. He described the restructuring as a "natural step" for the group, which will now operate as what he called "a one-stop shop" for commissioners and distributors.
The Creatives launched in 2021 as a strategic partnership among independent production companies across Europe. The new structure converts that loose alliance into a formal, producer-owned holding company. According to the companies, it becomes the first European-rooted producer-owned group of its scale in film and television.
The group's member companies include Haut et Court and Unité in France, Komplizen and Razor Film in Germany, Good Chaos in the U.K., Lemming Film in the Netherlands and Belgium, Maipo Film in Norway, Spiro in Israel and Masha in the U.S.
Anton Studios, based in Europe, has expanded rapidly in recent years through a mix of production financing and content investment. Its stake in The Creatives gives the group additional capital and a partner with ties to international film and television financing.
The deal reflects a broader push among independent European producers to pool resources as streaming platforms consolidate their commissioning budgets and demand larger slates from fewer suppliers. By forming a single holding entity, The Creatives aims to present a unified front to buyers while keeping its member labels operating independently.
Founding members retain ownership under the joint structure. Bessi said the model preserves the creative autonomy of each production company while giving the group more leverage in negotiations with global distributors and platforms.
The Creatives has not announced which projects will fall under the new holding company or how production decisions will be divided among partners. The group said further details on its slate and structure would come in the months ahead.
Anton Studios' investment marks its first major move into a producer-owned collective rather than a single company. For The Creatives, the partnership adds a financing arm at a time when independent producers face rising production costs and tighter margins.
The transaction closed this month, according to both companies.
