France’s Cottonwood Media hones in on YA content with hire of Manon Ardisson

Former Ardimages UK executive Manon Ardisson has been appointed to the newly-created position of head of fiction at French prodco Cottonwood Media (Spellbound).

Manon Ardisson

Based out of the Paris office, she is charged with overseeing the Federation Studios-owned company’s push into primetime and young adult (YA) fiction content.

Reporting to co-founders David Michel, Cécile Laurenson, and Zoé Carrera Allaix, Ardisson will cover all aspects of fiction, from development through to filming and post-production.

She will also be responsible for hiring the respective creative teams at each stage of the production process.

Ardisson joins from London-headquartered Ardimages UK, where she served as MD and producer.

She has worked with multiple broadcasters and organisations such as Film Cymru,  BBC Film, BFI, and Sky, securing development funding for fiction projects.

Her credits include the films God’s Own Country, La Soledad, and La Fortaleza, plus feature documentary El Father Plays Himself.

Kids’ content-skewing Cottonwood Media is part of the Federation Kids & Family division. Founded in 2014, it has made shows such as Circuit Breakers for Apple TV+, Find Me in Paris for Hulu, and Theodosia for HBO Max.

David Michel, president and co-Founder, Cottonwood Media, said: “Live action has been an incredible growth area for us, and for a while now we have been considering the primetime and YA space.

“Manon has a great track record for working on some incredible films, and we feel she will greatly contribute to the augmentation of our premium live-action slate for the global marketplace over the coming years.”

Ardisson said: “Cottonwood Media has an incredible reputation globally, and I am confident that over the coming months we are going to forge some great creative partnerships and take the fiction side of the business to a whole new level.”