Successful series. Is there a magic formula that works?

Xavier is one of the UK’s leading producers and senior executives with over 30 years of industry experience.

Just prior to setting up Moonriver, Xavier was President of Production at eOne Features. He joined eOne when it acquired the Alliance Films Group that Xavier jointly ran, which included Momentum Pictures, the UK distributor whose growth he engineered over ten years.

He has also held senior executive positions at Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Warner Bros and Universal.

Some of his recent film credits as Producer and/or Executive Producer include Wild Rose (2019), Stan & Ollie (2018), Eye In The Sky (2015); Spotlight (2015), Suite Française (2014); The Woman In Black (2012); Quartet (2012); and The King’s Speech (2010).

Xavier and Moonriver produced the feature film Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (2022).

He has just delivered as the lead Executive producer Nautilus, an epic action- adventure TV series for Disney, based on Jules Verne’s beguiling anti-hero, Captain Nemo, from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Nautilus will be released by AMC in North America and premium channels internationally.

The series, A Gentleman in Moscow, an adaptation of Amor Towles’ best-selling novel, starring Ewan McGregor has just been released on March 29th, 2024, on Showtime and Paramount + global to great critical acclaim. Xavier Marchand, alongside Tom Harper optioned the rights to the novel and Executive produced the series.

Xavier and Moonriver have several series in development in the US, UK, France and Australia with Sky, Netflix, TF1, France Televisions amongst other.

Al De Azpiazu is Senior Vice President of Distribution & Co-productions at Fremantle International, with responsibilities for France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
He joined Fremantle in 2016 after six years at Warner Bros.
International Television, where he had responsibilities for program distribution and format licensing in Europe and Latin America.
He previously worked at Mediapro, Cadena SER and Televisió de Catalunya, where he performed production tasks.
He has a degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Barcelona; he has completed the MEGA postgraduate degree from the Media Business School and training programs from Bertelsmann University at the INSEAD business school.
He is fluent in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Catalan and collaborates as a lecturer in the master’s programs of the National Film & Television School in the United Kingdom.  

JJ Lousberg is the Managing Director and Producer at Magical Society UK, which he co-founded with Paul Trijbits as a partnership with the Paris-based television and film studio Magical Society set up by Aton Soumache and Joann Sfar.

Lousberg recently produced Day & Night, the top-rated medical series for Dutch broadcaster NPO, with a second season in production and a third in prep. Previously he was Focus Features / Universal’s SVP International Productions and Acquisitions, working across the slate on films like Inglorious Basterds, Ex Machina, Mama and Theory of Everything.

As the head of the international production division at Universal & Focus, Lousberg also oversaw the local language production and acquisition strategy for the studio, co-producing numerous local hit films in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Mexico and Australia.

Magical Society currently has BBC One drama Virdee in post-production and is preparing a live-action adaptation of St Exupery’s beloved masterpiece The Little Prince. Also in pre-production is Klezmer, based on Joann Sfar’s graphic novel series, a Wild-East action-adventure set in 1903 Odessa, to be directed by Fauda’s Assaf Bernstein.