Animation Studio TeamTo Units Up Submit-Acquisition Management Construction

Kicking off a brand new bankruptcy for certainly one of Europe’s premier impartial animation studios, Marco Balsamo has taken over as President and CEO of TeamTO following its acquisition via Riva Studios Productions in December 2024.

The 33-year-old Italian-American filmmaker and entrepreneur will now oversee TeamTO’s operations, balancing government and artistic obligations whilst positioning the studio for enlargement in a abruptly evolving animation trade.

“This studio has constructed a exceptional legacy, and we’re dedicated to making sure its long-term luck,” Balsamo advised Selection of the adjustments. “We additionally need to amplify our achieve to global companions, support our presence within the world animation trade and determine TeamTO as a pace-setter in each authentic content material and top class manufacturing products and services.”

Co-founded via Balsamo and Tara Sibel Demren, Riva partnered with filmmaker Jay Oliva (“Batman: The Darkish Knight Returns,” “Twilight of the Gods”) of Lex & Otis and investor Peter Bekkerman to shape a brand new possession staff with the only objective of securing the studio’s long-term long run. The purchase coincides with TeamTO’s twentieth anniversary, marking a pivotal second within the corporate’s historical past.

As a part of its dedication to protecting TeamTO’s legacy, Riva Studios has retained 90% of the studio’s staff. The brand new control construction contains long-term TeamTO executives Clélia Santi (Head of Studios, Paris), Carole Toledo (Head of Studios, Valence), Jean-Baptiste Spieser (Leader Generation Officer), Olivier Plazas (Artwork Director) and Fanny Weber (Govt Manufacturer). Different key roles come with Demren and Oliva as Govt Manufacturers and Balsamo as Manufacturer, with additional inventive appointments to be introduced within the close to long run.

Significantly, TeamTO co-founders and longtime studio leaders Guillaume Hellouin and Corrine Kouper, who initially deliberate to stick with TeamTO post-acquisition, is not going to proceed with the corporate.

“We’ve identified them for years, and I will’t believe how tough this has been for them, however we appreciate their resolution,” Balsamo defined. “As with all management transition, there are at all times shifts. Crucial factor to us is that the guts of the studio that they constructed remains robust, and we’ve been ready to retain 90% of its staff.”

Underneath its new management, TeamTO will amplify its inventive slate, mixing its legacy of acclaimed youngsters’s animated collection like “Angelo Laws” and “Jade Armor” with a lineup of authentic IPs from Riva, broadening its achieve into grownup animation. The studio is lately creating an bold slate that comes with titles comparable to “Akira’s Flying Wheelchair,” “Junichiro Jackson,” “Yellow Cello and the Sea of Reminiscences,” “The Adventures of Amir Hamza,” “Cradle: Unsouled,” “Technology: The Legend of Lugh” and “Corvus Belli’s Infinity: Paradise Misplaced.”

Balsamo and the brand new TeamTO management are particularly serious about pushing into grownup animation, and the brand new boss says spouse Oliva will likely be a big affect in that regard. “Jay has directed one of the most absolute best grownup animated collection ever, and we’ve were given 4 grownup IPs we’re operating on, from comedy to mental thrillers,” he mentioned.

Every other of Balsamo’s key projects as CEO will likely be to diversify TeamTO’s manufacturing slate, making sure it stays a aggressive pressure within the trade. He’s going to paintings intently with Oliva and Demren to increase daring new initiatives that push the bounds of what the studio has completed prior to now. Past his government function, Balsamo will tackle expanded inventive obligations, serving as a showrunner, creator and director on a couple of initiatives.

Balsamo and Demren, acutely aware of TeamTO’s tough monetary state of affairs final yr, have been exploring tactics to stop the studio from insolvency since early June, actively operating on possible answers. An opportunity assembly with Oliva in New York in mid-October—simply 4 days prior to the bid closing date—ended in their resolution to procure the studio in combination.

“The best way this deal got here in combination—so serendipitously, so briefly—nonetheless feels surreal,” mentioned Balsamo. “In an trade the place animation studios are suffering, gifted animators are being laid off and a long time of labor are prone to vanishing, we couldn’t let a studio with TeamTO’s pedigree be misplaced. We’ve at all times championed the impartial spirit of filmmaking, and TeamTO embodies that very same spirit. I couldn’t ask for a greater crew with whom to embark in this journey.”