French Sales Group Goodfellas Buys ‘Happening’ Producer Rectangle to Expand Film and TV Production Business

variety.com:

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent One of France’s most critically lauded producers of the last decade with movies such as Audrey Diwan‘s Golden Lion prizewinner “Happening,” Edouard Weil has sold his Paris-based production company Rectangle Productions to sales company Goodfellas after filing for bankruptcy in June.

Goodfellas, the thriving sales company co-founded by Vincent Maraval, is a longtime collaborator of Rectangle Productions. Maraval previously handled international distribution on Rectangle movies while at Wild Bunch (which he co-founded and partially exited in 2019), and he and Weil have continued working together on movies after Maraval launched his standalone sales banner Goodfellas (formerly known as Wild Bunch International) on movies such as the erotic drama “Emmanuelle,” Diwan’s recent follow-up to “Happening.” Although Rectangle Productions has been dissolved as a business entity, it “will retain its brand, creative independence, attached talent and ongoing projects” over at Goodfellas, said the company in a statement.

Producer Alice Girard, who joined Rectangle Productions in 2012, will continue working with Weil to “produce ambitious films and TV series in collaboration with their usual talents and partners,” Goodfellas said, adding that the acquisition — which it describes as a “merger” — “substantially strengthens its film and TV production business, an essential complement to its international sales activity.” Under the Paris commercial court ruling which Variety has obtained, Goodfellas dissolved Rectangle and recruited Weil to have him work as a producer in-house.