Gaumont's Vice CEO on 'Hannibal's' New Friday Time Slot, Boosting Ratings and Skipping the Pilot Order (Q&A)

Christophe Riandee talks about how the French movie studio -- which also is behind Netflix's "Hemlock Grove" got Hollywood's attention, why it entered the U.S. television business and the biggest differences in the European and American approaches to TV.

This story first appeared in the Feb. 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

There is no shortage of European media moguls who want to make it in L.A., but Frenchman Christophe Riandee has pulled off what he calls a "Hollywood ending" with Gaumont International TV, the U.S.-based television arm of the venerable French mini-major. Founded in 1895, Gaumont is the oldest movie studio in the world, with half-year revenues in 2013 topping $170 million(up from $108 million in the first half of 2012). On the film side, Gaumont is behind such titles as Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives, starring Ryan Gosling; French-language hit The Intouchables; and this year's Cannes opener, Grace of Monaco with Nicole Kidman.

It was Riandee, who has been with Gaumont since 2003, who pushed the company to go west. Back in 2011, GIT -- run by former NBC executive Katie O'Connell, who was hired by Riandee -- entered the U.S. television market with a bang, scoring a straight-to-series order on NBC for Hannibal, starring Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen, and following up with Eli Roth's Hemlock Grove on Netflix, both of which have been renewed.

GIT's television model -- producing their shows and bypassing the pilot process --