Actor, director and producer Eva Longoria has teamed with producer Cris Abrego to launch scripted focused outfit Hyphenate Media Group.
The new venture will invest in creator-led enterprises as well as develop and produce its own slate of original programming. Abrego will serve as the CEO of the company, and Longoria as chief creative officer.
Banijay, where Abrego has been chairman of the Americas since 2020, has made a strategic investment in the new business to accelerate its growth.
The launch announcement was made by Abrego and Longoria during a keynote at Mipcom.
Hyphenate Media Group has acquired the full scripted and unscripted slate of UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, the independent production label founded by Longoria in 2005 and behind titles such as Telenovela, Grand Hotel, and Searching for Mexico.
Its first title, Apple TV+’s dramedy Land of Women, is expected to be released in 2024.
Both Abrego and Longoria will produce exclusively for the new company, and all television projects directed by Longoria will be produced under the new banner.
Longoria said: “With Hyphenate Media Group, Cris and I are leveraging the power of the creative industry’s greatest resource, the multi-hyphenate, to help meet audiences and the industry where they are. We are answering the industry’s call for premium inclusive content with broad appeal and an undeniable point of view. Our intention is to provide greater financial participation for makers, creators, talent, and entrepreneurs – the Hyphenates.”
Marco Bassetti, CEO of Banijay, said: “With an ambitious vision, unrivaled credentials, and an impressive growth trajectory, this marks the perfect first strategic investment for us in the U.S. scripted market; a space we’d explored for some time but never, until now, found the right fit to cut through.”
Before Banijay, Abrego was CEO of Endemol Shine Holdings.
Longoria founded production company UnbeliEVAble Entertainment in 2005, soon after her breakthrough onscreen role on Desperate Housewives.
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