Cottonwood Media regains independence as it buys back Federation stake

L-R: David Michel, Zoé Carrera Allaix and Cécile Laurenson

French kids- and family-focused prodco Cottonwood Media is buying back the stake in the company held by parent firm Federation Studios and regaining its independent status.

Founded by David Michel, Zoé Carrera Allaix and Cécile Laurenson in 2014, Cottonwood became a subsidiary of Federation the following year, under a deal that also made Michel a founding partner of the latter company.

Michel is now buying back Federation’s entire stake in Cottonwood, which will operate as an independent company. Laurenson and Carrera Allaix will continue to lead the prodco with Michel.

Federation will remain the distributor of Cottonwood’s existing catalogue through its sales division, Federation International. Under the new agreement, it will also have first-look rights regarding the distribution of future productions.

Cottonwood has made a name for itself in the teen content space with projects such as Find Me in Paris for Hulu and ZDF, and Theodosia for HBO Max, ZDF and Globo. In the past couple of years, it has been exploring young-adult (YA) programming and intends to use its new independent status to focus on international YA coproductions.

According to the company, several “ambitious” projects targeting 16-25s and 18-29s will be announced shortly.

Michel, Laurenson and Carrera Allaix said in a joint statement: “The opportunity arose for us to buy back Federation’s stake in Cottonwood. This will help us continue our next phase of growth while being more agile.

“Also, with the recent industry revival of YA content and our desire to expand our offerings, we felt the timing was right. We continue to maintain excellent relations and a strong bond with our friends at Federation, particularly with regard to the distribution of our past productions.”

As well as Find Me in Paris and Theodosia, Cottonwood’s other live-action tween/teen dramas include Spellbound (Hulu, ZDF, France Télévisions) and The Lady Grace Mysteries (ZDF, BBC Children’s).

In animation, Cottonwood is currently in production on 20 Dance Street for France Télévisions and ZDF. Previous animated series include preschool programme The Ollie & Moon Show (France Télévisions, Netflix).