Oct 3, 2022

Superprod acquires Co-Production Company to expand its business in North America.

Paris-based development, production and distribution company Superprod has acquired The Co-Production Company, a New York-based label specializing in financing and distribution arrangements for international co-productions, in an effort to expand its North American operations.

Doug Schwalbe, founder and CEO of The Co-Production Company, will become president of the newly formed Superprod US Inc. Schwalbe is a longtime industry veteran who founded the company in 2021 after serving as senior vice president of co-production at DreamWorks Animation Television Inc. There he managed co-production deals for a number of productions for Netflix, Apple TV+, Sky, and Peacock. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President at Classic Media, where he oversaw such animated franchises as "Casper the Friendly Ghost," "Mr. Magoo," and "George of the Jungle."

Schwalbe will work with Super Productions founders Clément Calvet (CEO) and Jeremy Fajner (COO) to expand into the North American market. He will be responsible for managing the production slate of live-action and animated films and series.

"Doug's expertise in acquiring great IP, developing projects, financing, and finding distribution partners is unparalleled. He will be a tremendous asset to Superprod, not only working on existing projects, but also bringing new content and concepts to the company for development."

Former Cartoon Network executive Tatiana Krokar has been named VP of Superprod US Inc. and will report directly to Schwalbe and Virginie Creance, Superprod's senior VP of animation. While at CN, Krokar was responsible for content acquisition and project development for Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland, Adventure Time artist Andy Ristaino, and Bird & Squirrel creator James Burks, among others. He was also responsible for the acquisition and development of projects for the network's original TV content. He also developed, produced, and wrote original TV content for the network.

With this announcement, Superprod's co-production company's animated series Iyanu: Child of Wonder for HBO Max will transition to Superprod's pipeline and production will continue. The series is co-produced by Youneek Studios, Lion Forge Animation, and Impact X Capital.

"Superprod has been actively working to expand its global footprint, and we are thrilled to have Doug join our team," said Jennifer Harris, CEO of Superprod. "Welcoming Doug to our team and adding the assets and capital associated with a co-production company will allow us to increase our presence in North America in a way that will have an immediate impact and be highly effective.

"It has been a great personal and professional pleasure to work with Clément and Jeremy since the founding of Superprod 10 years ago. They have built a great production and distribution organization and we see many great opportunities to continue to grow the company as we expand our presence in North America."

Super Productions recently produced the toddler series "Anna and Friends" for Nickelodeon International. The company is currently producing an animated family comedy heist for Netflix, which will be directed by Aardman veteran director Steve Box (co-director of Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit). The untitled film will follow Tibbles and his gang of feral cat rag-taggers as they are forced to go undercover to pull off the biggest heist of their lives.