Constantin Boss Oliver Berben Seeks Partners for Brand Building as Premium Shows ‘Hagen’ and ‘Smilla’s Sense of Snow’ Head for Mipcom
variety.comLeo Barraclough International Features Editor Oliver Berben, who took the reins of German production and distribution powerhouse Constantin Film on March 1, faces a German media landscape that is “changing radically and quickly,” he says.
In response, he is adjusting the company’s approach to the business. He welcomes the government’s proposed reform of the German Film Law, which will change the country’s production incentives, including for television, and will introduce an obligation on broadcasters and streamers to invest 20% of sales generated in Germany back into European productions, 70% of which would have to be in the German language. “You have stagnating funding of public broadcasters.
You have declining revenues for the private stations. The question is: Is the model functioning altogether? It is not, if we just keep on doing the same thing again and again.” He adds, “Everything is changing, and these changes, by the way, are good.
Us, as producers, we need to find completely new ways of how to produce a show and how to finance it.” Streaming is a bit part of the equation, of course.
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