Banijay hires Studiocanal’s deputy MD to head France’s Endemol Shine Fiction

Dominique Farrugia

Banijay has appointed Studiocanal’s Dominique Farrugia to head up Endemol Shine Fiction in France.

Farrugia will become MD at the French drama label from November, with a remit to oversee all of the business’s scripted operations.

He was most recently deputy MD at Studiocanal, which he joined in 2017 having previously worked as president at French network Canal+. Farrugia also co-founded comedy quartet Les Nuls and launched production company Farrudg Entertainment Worldwide (FEW), before signing a partnership with EuropaCorp in 2012.

Endemol Shine Fiction has been behind shows including Papa Ou Maman for M6, Mention Particulière for TF1, Guyane for Canal+ and Le Pont Du Diable, among others.

He reports into Banijay France’s CEO François de Brugada, who was appointed in July, with Endemol Shine France’s president Nicolas Coppermann stepping down. Farrugia will retain his first-look agreement with Studiocanal on any film projects from his production company, One Again.

Bragada said: “His experience as a writer, director and producer will be invaluable in building a healthy slate of high-quality, original and ambitious scripted programming. His arrival bolsters Banijay France’s fiction offering and solidifies our position as a go-to for all genres.”