International sales execs Caroline Couret-Delègue and Elie Mechoulam have paired up to launch new London-based sales and production outfit Truffle Pictures. Couret-Delègue previously headed up sales and acquisitions at Metrodome International, the sales arm of the UK distribution group Metrodome, which went into administration in August. Mechoulam comes from The Little Film Company, where he was director of sales and marketing.
Truffle will launch its first slate at the American Film Market in November but has already taken on board former Metrodome titles The Hippopotamus, directed by John Jencks and based on the book by Stephen Fry and Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton’s We Go On, both which have been resigned under the new banner. The Hippopotamus follows a disgraced poet who is summoned to his friend’s country estate to investigate a series of unexplained miracles. It’s currently in post-production and stars Matthew Modine and Tim McInnerny. Supernatural thriller We Go On sees a man, paralysed by a fear of dying, offer a reward to anyone who can prove life does exist after death.
Couret-Delègue created and ran Metrodome International for the past two years before the company went into the equivalent of Chapter 11 last month. She’s had previous stints in sales at AV Pictures and also has production credits in titles such as Big Stan, starring Rob Schneider and The Last Word, starring Winona Ryder and Wes Bentley.
During Mechoulam’s tenure at The Little Film Co., he’s been involved with titles such as Ellen Constantine’s Northern Soul and Klaus Haro’s The Fencer. The duo have already secured funding for the new company’s acquisition fund and are set to launch a fully-funded production arm soon.
The company has also hired former Metrodome employee Jennifer Dawson as head of international servicing while the Metrodome’s former managing director, Jezz Vernon, who recently launched his own consultancy Port Royal London, will help oversee upcoming projects on behalf of Truffle.
