Marike Muselaers and Catherine Spriet take over management of one of the biggest foreign buyers and co-producers of Nordic scripted content.

Founders and co-owners Jan De Clercq, Annemie Degryse and Alexander Vandeputte will remain active but agreed to let younger executives run the group involved in production (feature and animation) and content acquisition for Benelux.

Muselaers joined the group in 2008 as the first employee of Lumière Home Entertainment in Amsterdam. As Head of Sales Benelux she transformed Lumière from a successful DVD distributor to an all rights powerhouse, making sure the Lumière titles would find an audience through multiple platforms. The last two years she has also been responsible for acquisition and co-productions of TV series. 

“The market is changing extremely fast and the digital revolution is only getting started. A small number of technology companies is gaining power, and traditional film and TV distributors are struggling. In my view, Lumière is not a traditional distributor but a full ecosystem in which production, distribution, our cinemas and our animation studio are all working closely together to bringing the best stories to our audience. Not only do we have partnerships with all Benelux media outlets, we also have a fantastic network of producers, broadcasters and platforms in Scandinavia and the rest of the world. “

Spriet has been working for Lumière as CFO for the past two years and has played a major role in restructuring the organisation. She said: “Lumière is shifting from traditional distribution to digital distribution and production. The upcoming years will be about growing our in-house production company Lunanime, with a strong focus on developing and producing our own films, TV-series and animation projects. To support this growth we founded Lum.Invest, our in-house tax shelter company that will help us finance Lunanime's projects. I am convinced this new lean, mean and healthy organisation is now ready for the future.”

Lumière has been an essential partner to Scandinavian producers since 2006 and has played a key role in promoting and sustaining the golden age of Nordic noir as buyer for Benelux and sometimes co-producer. The company’s 2016 TV drama line up consists of 13 titles including 10 from the Nordics: Dicte 3, Follow the Money 1&2, Norskov, Modus, Trapped, Thicker than Water 2, Nobel, Beck 6, Wallander BBC4, Sandhamn Murders 2.  
The 2017/2018 line-up (as of March 2017) has 14 Nordic TV shows out of 19: Acquitted 2, The Legacy 3, Midnight Sun, Rebecka Martinsson, Mammon 2, Johan Falk 3, Monster, Hassel, Alex, Occupied 2, The Team 2, The Bridge 4, Modus 2, Bullets.

Watch out for our interview with Marike Muselaers to be published on Tuesday March 28.