Pierre-Antoine Capton, the co-founder and CEO of Mediawan, was named Knight of the Legion of Honor by French President Emmanuel Macronduring a ceremony held at the Elysée Palace in Paris.
Capton was honored alongside other French figures who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s cultural landscape, including the filmmaker Costa Gavras, actor and novelist Marlène Jobert, contemporary artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, historian Pierre Nora, choreographer Claude Bessy, journalist Jean-Claude Narcy and conductor Jean-Claude Casadesus.
A former indie TV producer who rose through the ranks, Capton co-founded Mediawan with telco billionaire Xavier Niel and financier Matthieu Pigasse in 2015 and has turned it into an international powerhouse with a raft of strategic acquisitions, including France’s AB Productions, the U.K.’s Drama Republic, Italy’s Palomar and Brad Pitt’s Plan B. The company, which is backed by KKR and recently signed a €100m TV development deal with Entourage Ventures, is considered one of Europe’s main production-distribution groups.
In a richly layered speech that suggested their long-standing bond, Macron paid tribute to Capton’s authentic “French success story.” Unlike many French executives and producers, Capton wasn’t born into this industry. He had a middle-class upbringing in Normandie and was able to break into the closed-off world of television thanks to what Macron described as Capton’s “audacity,” “impressive work ethic” and “intelligence in sensing people and situations.” The French President cited Mediawan’s acquisition of “Brad Pitt’s company” as a milestone for the group.
Macron also spoke about the influence of Dominique Besnehard, an agent and producer, and Marc-Olivier Fogiel, a journalist, on Capton. The two worked with Capton during the early years of his TV career, before he went on to launch his own vehicle, Troisième Œil Productions, in 2001. Still up and running, the Paris-based company is behind some of France’s best known talk shows, “C à vous” and “C l’hebdo.”
Macron also pointed out Capton’s attachment to his roots in Normandie, as well as loyalty toward friends. He bought the football club in Caen, where he played when he was young, with his uncle; and he’s teamed up with French playwright-filmmaker Florian Zeller (“The Father), a longtime friend, to launch an L.A.-based production vehicle, Blue Morning Pictures.
“Mediawan has transformed into a French giant of cultural globalization, and I know that… from your perspective you have fulfilled only “Dix Pour Cent” of your dreams,” Macron said with a warm smile, cheekily referencing the French title of Mediawan’s “Call Your Agent!”
The ceremony was attended by France culture minister Rima Abdul Malak, Pigasse, Niel, Fogiel, Besnehard, Mediawan’s senior executives Elisabeth d’Arvieu, Justine Planchon and Thomas Anargyros, Chi-Fou-Mi producer Hugo Selignac, Canal+ Group Chairman and CEOMaxime Saada and France Televisions president Delphine Ernotte, TF1’s president Rodolphe Belmer, CNC president Dominique Boutonnat and LVMH boss Antoine Arnault, among others. The event was followed by a private dinner hosted at Loulou Restaurant, a famous Parisian restaurant co-owned by Capton and located next door to the Louvre museum.
