Marco Chimenz, Co-CEO of Italy’s Cattleya the prominent ITV-owned outfit behind “Gomorrah” and “ZeroZeroZero,” will be leaving the company in January to join pan-European powerhouse Federation Studios.
At Federation Chimenz will serve as group co-managing director of the expanding production and distribution studio that currently comprises 35 production companies, working closely with founder and CEO Pascal Breton and Federation co-director Lionel Uzan.
Founded in 2013, Federation is a production, financing and distribution studio with subsidiaries and associate production companies based in Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Madrid, Berlin, Cologne, London, Brussels and Tel Aviv. The group’s best-known titles include “The Bureau,” “In Treatment,” “Baby,” “Hostages,” “Marseille,” “Bad Banks,” “Your Honor,” and “Around the World in 80 Days.”
Chimenz will continue to work with Cattleya on several productions until 2025. He will also continue to operate with longtime collaborator Joshua Berman, who is currently head of business affairs at Cattleya. Berman in January 2024 will become Federation’s international business advisor.
Chimenz, who is a former president of the European Producers Club, has been a partner at Cattleya for more than 20 years working with its founder Riccardo Tozzi and finance chief Giovanni Stabilini as they grew the company to become Italy’s top indie while veering from film towards TV. They’ve shepherded high-end hit shows such as “Gomorrah,” which is Italy’s top TV export, “ZeroZeroZero” and more recently “Django.” Chimenz’s duties at Cattleya in Italy and at its Spanish affiliate, Cattleya Producciones, consist of overall strategy, internal and external growth and management of business affairs.
“European sales companies are once again playing a big role in giving value to European product with agreements that are a bit more creative, now that some streamers are becoming more flexible due to the fact that they need to contain costs,” Chimez told Variety, noting that streamers are now more “open to agreements with different territorial configurations.”
“This brings back to the forefront executives who know how to navigate these types of territorial configurations. So I am glad to be working with Federation to create the conditions for international co-productions, which is what I’m specialised in,” he added.
“I am so enthusiastic about joining Pascal and Lionel, two producers and entrepreneurs that I have known for years and for whom I have the highest esteem as they lead a brilliant group with such a strong international drive,” Chimenz also stated.
“Naturally, having worked with Riccardo Tozzi and Giovanni Stabilini for over half my life, moving on from Cattleya and its formidable team feels like leaving family. I am deeply thankful to all of them for the adventure of a lifetime, as I am to Julian Bellamy, Lisa Perrin, Duncan Walker and the group of great executives at ITV Studios.”
Breton said in a statement that “welcoming Marco, one of Europe’s most talented and appreciated producers, can only strengthen Federation’s knowledge and expertise in the areas of pre-financing, co-production and sales of movies and show” Breton added that the company’s “goal remains the same: to attract the best producers, show runners and directors in the business.”
Tozzi, meanwhile, said Cattleya “shared a splendid adventure with our friend Marco for over twenty years.” “We wish him great success in his new venture. We know that he will do wonderful things with Federation while all that he has given to Cattleya will be left with us and the entire team trained by him and Josh, whom we also wish all the best,” he added.