Alcon Media Group launches Alcon International Studios with Diego Piasek as president

LA-based Alcon Media Group will unveil Alcon International Studios (AIS), a new division dedicated to the development, production and financing of television content for global audiences, at Mipcom next week.

Diego Piasek

The new operation will be led by Argentina’s Diego Piasek as president. A producer, entrepreneur and media executive with more than 20 years of experience, Piasek will combine the role with his work at non-fiction production company Offline Sports, which he co-founded with Gonzalo Arias.

Piasek’s arrival at AIS follows a collaboration with Alcon chief operating officer Scott Parish on the development and launch of the division over the past two years.

The plan is to establish AIS as a permanent operation in the UK and Europe, and Piasek and Parish will work closely with Ben Roberts, head of Alcon Television Group.

AIS will operate as an international studio with an independent spirit, the company said, and will seek to partner with local talent, producers, broadcasters, studios and financiers, connecting projects with Alcon’s global resources and relationships.

The company will develop projects from local markets, including the UK and Europe, and will also seek to bring international IP and talent to the US market.

AIS will make its official market debut at Cannes event Mipcom, where it will present a slate headlined by First Woman, a six-episode thriller commissioned for UK commercial broadcaster ITV by its director of drama Polly Hill.

The series stars Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie) and Ashley Walters (Adolescence) and is directed by Philip Martin (The Crown, Scoop). AIS and ITV Studios are co-financing the project in partnership with Mammoth Screen and Germany’s ZDF.

Although English will be its main production language, the company will work on projects in different languages and territories.

As an example of this strategy, AIS recently put together the international co-financing scheme for the forthcoming TV series Point Break, bringing together Canal+’s StudioCanal and AMC.

AIS will work in parallel with Alcon Television Group but will have a separate international mandate to structure talent, financing and distribution agreements flexibly and maximise the global reach of its projects.