User:Marlastudios/Jean-Julien Baronnet

Jean-Julien Baronnet, born November 7, 1958, in Bordeaux, is a French businessman, entrepreneur, and film producer.

Baronnet was CEO and member of the Board of Directors of EuropaCorp before founding Ubisoft Motion Pictures, the first integrated film studio specialized in video game adaptation, where he also held the position of CEO. He now owns his own Hollywood production company, Marla Studios, which also specializes in the adaptation of video games into films and TV series.

Early Life
A student at the Collège Tivoli in Bordeaux, he went on to study at the École Supérieure de Commerce (ESC) in Bordeaux , graduating in 1981.

Carreer
Baronnet began his career in the marketing departments of Procter & Gamble, then in the marketing department of Laboratoire Glaxo, before joining Bernard Krief Consulting in 1986, when Jean-Pierre Raffarin was also part of the firm. Baronnet became Managing Director of Bernard Krief Consulting in 1988 and Group CEO in 1990.

In 1993, Baronnet joined the Rhône-Poulenc Chemicals Division, and in 1995 was appointed President of the Cosmetics, Detergents, and Industrial Formulations Division. Jean-Julien Baronnet was appointed President of Rhône-Poulenc Italy in 1997. He joined Rhodia at its creation in 1998, becoming worldwide President of Rhodia Home Personal Care & Industrial (HPCII). From 2000, he was Executive Vice President of the Consumer Products Specialties Division, where he oversaw Rhodia Food and HPCII. He subsequently took on other responsibilities within the company, such as President of the Services & Specialties Division and member of the Executive Committee in 2001. In 2003, Jean-Pierre Tirouflet appointed him Chief Operating Officer of the Rhodia Group.

Film Career
Jean-Julien Baronnet began writing screenplays in 2000, and in 2004 won the Trophée du premier scénario awarded by the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée for Abîmes, loosely based on Victor Hugo's Travailleurs de la mer.

In 2008, he was appointed CEO of EuropaCorp, where he was involved in a number of the French studio's projects, including the animated film A Monster in Paris and Taken.

After two years with Luc Besson's company, he joined Ubisoft, where he founded and directed Ubisoft Motion Pictures, the first film studio dedicated entirely to video game adaptation.

As Baronnet explains in an interview with L'Obs, the creation of this subsidiary is a response to Hollywood studios: "After the disaster that was Disney's Prince of Persia, in which we had no say, we didn't want to give in to the sirens of the cinema anymore ."

Baronnet produced the series Rabbids Invasion . During this period, Ubisoft collaborated with several studios, adapting a number of franchises including Splinter Cell, Watch Dogs, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, and Assassin's Creed, a film which he also produced.

After five years at Ubisoft, Jean-Julien Baronnet decided to set up his own production company, Marla Studios, based in Los Angeles, which also specializes in adapting video games for film and television. The company oversees the creative development, negotiations and production of feature films and TV series based on video game franchises.

Private Life
Baronnet lives in Los Angeles with his wife Lara Voloshin, former Head of Development at Metropolitan and Head of Development at Marla Studios , with whom he has two children.

Notes and references
