‘Narco’s prodco Gaumont names Nicolas Atlan president for US, Gene Stein to exit

Nicolas Atlan

Nicolas Atlan has been promoted to president of Gaumont’s US operations.

The Narcos and El Presidente production outfit is streamlining the US side of the business and as a result, Atlan, the former president of Gaumont animation and family, will now added oversight of the US and Latin American drama divisions to his remit.

All US departments, including creative, production, business affairs, finance, and marketing will be integrated under Atlan’s leadership.

Meanwhile, Gene Stein, the former head of US television at the company, is departing to “pursue other opportunities”.

Atlan will report to Christophe Riandee, vice CEO at Gaumont, who commented: “Gaumont pioneered the straight to series model for TV back in 2012, and we are now continuing to adapt our organization to today’s highly competitive market.

“Nicolas is a talented entrepreneurial executive with an impressive track record of securing strategic partnerships with top streaming partners including Netflix, Amazon Studios, and Apple TV+. Thanks to him, Gaumont is now in production on such high-profile projects including High in the Clouds, the animated feature developed together with Paul McCartney for Netflix, Do, Re & Mi, the musical preschool series with Kristen Bell for Amazon Prime Video, and Stillwater, based on the Jon J. Muth Zen book series, for Apple TV+.”

“Over the last four years, I have had the immense pleasure to have led a talented group of executives focused on building a targeted, world-class slate of family programming,” said Atlan. “Moving forward, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead the US team in creating a broad range of compelling content tailored to our US partners and further contributing to Gaumont’s continued global success.”

The reorganisation will also see Terry Kalagian promoted to EVP of creative content, in which she will oversee all creative across the US business. Her team will include several executives newly promoted to SVP’s including Alexandra Hunter, Kimberley Dennison and Christian Gabela.

Gaumont has been bolstering its family and animation output in recent months with new senior hires, including Michelle Sullivan last week, and Karen Vermeulen and Cyril Le Pesant in May.