Federation builds Bigger Boat into prodco

French companies Federation Entertainment and Empreinte Digitale have joined forces to create a genre-focused drama production company, Bigger Boat.

Both Federation and Empreinte are prolific drama producers, with the former producing Netflix’s Marseille and the latter behind OCS and AMC coproduction Missions.

Bigger Boat will focus on creating genre series in the vein of Stranger Things, The Walking Dead and The Handmaid’s Tale.

The shows will be “a variety of French and European series” in genres including horror, fantasy and action.

Marianne, an 8x52mins supernatural-themed drama, is the first project announced.

The show comes from Samuel Bodin (T.A.N.K.), with Kaboul Kitchen co-writer Quoc Dang Tran co-writing. No broadcaster or service has been announced.

Other projects are said to be in “the final stages of development”, and are expected to emerge soon.

Federation, the four-year-old business Pascal Breton launched, currently has twelve series in production. It will sell Bigger Boat series internationally, with the new prodco launching months after Federation pacted with former Shine France boss Bouchra Rehani to create unscripted producer WeMake.

Raphaël Rocher and Henri Debeurme launched Empreinte in 2003, and has since produced shows for the likes of OCS and Vivendi-owned mobile content service Studio+, and a number of feature films.