Just for Laughs comedy catalog sale during bankruptcy protection
A significant comedy library consisting of nearly 1,000 titles from the Just for Laughs comedy festival has been acquired by Amuz Distribution as part of a court-directed bankruptcy process.
Amuz Distribution, the parent company of Quebec City-based ComediHa!, made the acquisition of the comedy programming catalog after Groupe Juste Pour Rire Inc., the parent company of Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival, agreed to sell select assets during bankruptcy protection proceedings.
To distribute the comedy programming under the Juste pour rire and Just for Laughs, the Gags brands, Amuz has brought on Carlos Pacheco as the director of monetization and OTT. Pacheco, who previously worked as the director of OTT/FAST channel strategy and operations for Just for Laughs, will lead the distribution efforts for the Just for Laughs branded comedy at Amuz.
Alex Avon, the chief revenue officer of Amuz, expressed confidence in Pacheco’s ability to take the company to the next level with his global marketplace experience and leadership in the OTT space.
On March 5, Groupe Juste Pour Rire announced its plans to restructure under Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, secured creditors are owed a total of $26.5 million in outstanding debt, with the National Bank of Canada being owed $16.6 million and Bell Media seeking to recover an additional $1 million in debt.
In 2018, ICM Partners and longtime client Howie Mandel, along with local Quebec investors, acquired the controlling stake of JFL founder Gilbert Rozon to purchase the Just for Laughs comedy group. Following the acquisition of ICM by CAA in 2022, CAA is said to retain a small stake in Just for Laughs, while Mandel is no longer part of the festival’s ownership consortium.
The Montreal-based comedy group originated in the 1980s as an annual festival where talent scouts from Los Angeles and New York would discover emerging comedians for Hollywood sitcoms and movie roles. However, with the increasing prominence of the Internet and social media as platforms for self-promotion by comedians, the JFL festival has seen a shift in its role in discovering new comedy talent.