How Leonine Studios Reshaped German Film and TV
variety.comEd Meza @edmezavar In the four years since roaring to life, Leonine Studios has reshaped Germany’s film and television landscape, becoming a leading player in Europe’s biggest and most competitive market.
The company is receiving Variety’s International Achievement in Film Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Built by industry veteran Fred Kogel with financing from U.S.
private equity group KKR, Leonine Studios is an entertainment conglomerate that has brought together some of Germany’s most successful production and distribution companies under one roof. “I always wanted to establish and create a company as a home of talents – the best people in the German business and then internationally – and create a new company for the digital age,” says Kogel, Leonine’s CEO. “That was the reality behind bringing Leonine to life in 2019 as that was the first time that German content could travel the world.
That was the rationale.” “It was always a pity for me that the programs, the productions that I did in the past almost all ended at the German, Austrian and Swiss borders because of the German-language barrier,” adds Kogel, whose long career has seen executive stints at broadcasters ZDF and Sat.1, the once mighty Kirch Media and Constantin. “The streamers made it possible,” adds Kogel.
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