International Insider: German Deep Dive; Inside All3Media Sale; Sustainable Schwarzenegger
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German Deep Dive
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From ‘CSI: Berlin’ to nothing at all: The Munich Film Festival kicks off this morning, almost a year to the day that it emerged Sky Deutschland would be exiting the scripted original game in Germany, a decision that rocked the local production community. The tide has barely turned since, with Paramount+ and Starzplay (aka Lionsgate+) following suit and exiting drama and comedy production. “Paramount+ went from wanting CSI: Berlin to flatlined communications,” a well-known drama producer mused to Jesse and Stewart, who have spent plenty of time in Germany this past month. They’ve pieced together a comprehensive investigation spotlighting how the market has reacted to myriad setbacks, with potentially hundreds of projects back on the market and stuck at development stage and money tight everywhere. Streamers including Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV+ are active in the market but commission in small volume as the global streamer correction is prolonged. Netflix is making more commitments, but a lot of the downward pressure is still falling on the terrestrial networks. Dozens of production companies are concerned there just isn’t the money in the market to sustain something similar to the pre-2022 environment, when the likes of HBO and Sky were still big players. “There were so many productions in the gold-digger atmosphere,” German screenwriter Annette Hess told Stewart on stage at the Seriencamp event earlier this month. “It was a bubble – and now it’s over.” But at the same time, German drama is having a moment: Dear Child is a huge hit on Netflix, Maxton Hall – The World Between US has become Prime Video’s most-watched international original of all time, while Babylon Berlin continues to be one of the world’s most-loved multi-season European dramas (more on that below). As one major producer told us, the way forward is to see the current market conditions as a “challenge and a chance for something new.”
Grimm news: Stories coming out of Germany’s TV sector this week reflected this “challenge and chance” in equal measure. On Tuesday morning, Jesse broke the news that Apple TV+ had boarded one of the many Sky projects that hit the German market last year. The streamer joined pubcaster ZDFneo on KRANK Berlin, a medical drama starring Dear Child actress Haley Louise Jones as the young Dr. Parker, who manages a chaotic emergency room in Berlin’s toughest and most overcrowded hospital. Are you feeling ER Germany vibes too? Apple TV+ has global rights, with ZDF getting non-exclusive German-speaking rights in 12 months’ time. Just hours after that news landed, Deadline was revealed that Netflix’s urban fantasy drama series The Grimm Reality had been quietly shelved despite completing its shoot last year. Details on the project have been kept wraps since news of the series first emerged. Netflix isn’t talking, but we reported it’s not moving forward with the Wiedemann & Berg TV show. German TV is certainly taking the rough with the smooth.
‘Babylon’ rebuilt: One of the big impacts of Sky Deutschland’s market exit was the big financial gap it left in Season 5 of beloved period drama Babylon Berlin. Previously structured through an innovative agreement that saw Sky take premiere rights locally before pubcaster ARD got them later, speculation has been rife that financing the show wouldn’t be possible without the pay-TV giant. However, the remaining partners, who also include director Tom Twyker’s X Filme Creative Pool and producer-distributor Beta Film, have been steadfast in their ambition to make the fifth and final season. Indeed, Babylon Berlin has been a hit locally and in the States on Netflix, so steins will have been clinking in beer halls around the world when the final run was officially confirmed on Tuesday. Public broadcaster partners WDR and Radio Bremen are helping to fill the financial gaps and shooting will likely begin in the fall. Volker Bruch and Liv Lisa Fries will return as the series enters the dark pre-war phase in Germany history when the Nazi Party took hold of the country’s politics and plunged Europe into a crisis that ended in deadly worldwide conflict.
Inside All3Media’s $1.46B Sale
Awaking a sleeping giant: The sale of The Traitors and Fleabag super-producer All3Media was probably the international M&A story of 2023. Deadline of course brought you all the twists and turns but few could have envisaged at the start of last year that it would be Jeff Zucker’s RedBird IMI taking home the prize. Since then, things have gone a bit quiet, so it was no wonder our roving investigations guru Jake set about looking into what’s been what. The message from Jake’s deep dive — former CNN and NBCUniversal chief Zucker is here to awaken a sleeping giant. All3Media is no doubt a force in the international media space but has been noticeably quiet in the M&A market over the past few years (it hasn’t acquired a company since 2020), while competitors like Banijay and Fremantle have ballooned in size. People close to the company say a reluctance by ex-All3 owners WBD and Liberty Global to back acquisitions has been a source of frustration for the firm, which has looked on ruefully as desirable targets have bobbed into view and then been tugged away by rivals. That could all be about to change. Elsewhere, Jake’s piece looks into Gogglebox supremo Stephen Lambert’s position in the company, and addresses question marks over whether RedBird IMI’s Abu Dhabi backers could be an issue for production chiefs. Click here for the piece, which includes interviews with Zucker and All3Media boss Jane Turton.
Sustainable Schwarzenegger
I’ll be back… to resolve climate change issues: Arnold Schwarzenegger really does have the tendency to surprise. The 76-year-old Kindergarten Cop and Terminator star has ticked the action movie box, was Governor of California for eight years and is now turning his attention to the environment — the great challenge of our time. Addressing the latest edition of the Austrian World Summit, the event he launched eight years ago, Schwarzenegger said “all we care about is action” of the sustainability kind, as he pleaded with those with the power to combat climate change and take things beyond empty words. “We have to do whatever it takes to stop the bleeding in order to save our children, to save our planet, to save our future,” he said, pulling as few punches as he did in Commando and Predator. In the audience were a fair few people who may have been heeding the action star’s words, including Austrian President Alexander Van Der Bellen, Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres the and Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, Maro? ?ef?ovi?. Where Arnie leads, let’s hope they follow. Our round up is here.
Julian Assange Is Free
“Historic victory”: From one action hero to another, although with Julian Assange the label is maybe up for discussion. After more than a decade of first being under house arrest in a British stately home, then in the Ecuadorian embassy, then a high security prison, the WikiLeaks founder is home and free, having struck a plea deal with the U.S authorities, Mel reported Monday. In return for pleading guilty to the charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information, Assange will be sentenced to time served, 62 months — the same amount of time he has spent in the UK’s Belmarsh prison. He attended a hearing in the little-known U.S. commonwealth territory of Saipan earlier this week and was home in Australia greeting family at the airport by Wednesday. This closes the door on one of the more dramatic and curious global news stories of the past few years. Like him or loathe him (and plenty do both), Assange’s 14-year-long battle with numerous authorities poses major questions around free speech and the press, some of which still remain unanswered in a sense. And lest we not forget he faced rape and sexual assault accusations from Swedish prosecutors in 2010, charges that were later dropped. Assange’s plight has taken him around the world, seen him played by Benedict Cumberbatch in The Fifth Estate and be the subject of a Laura Poitras feature. In accepting the plea, Assange acknowledged that he had in fact broken the law, whether he believes that or not. All eyes now trained on his next move.
Anyone Hungary?
“It’s too late to be scared”: Stewart’s done a fair bit of travelling these past weeks and it was to Budapest he headed to see out June for the latest NATPE get together. As ever with NATPE, the local industry was given equal weight with some of the more familiar and noisier regions around the world. Making a rare appearance, the boss of Korean content streamer Kocowa broke down plans to bring its line-up of K-pop, drama and variety shows to more international viewers, as KunHee Park delivered a keynote to kick things off. But the more intriguing session took place on Tuesday courtesy of Alexander Rodnyansky, a Ukrainian-born Russian dissident who was forced to flee at the start of the Ukraine War. “It’s too late to be scared,” said the man who faces 10 years in prison. “Fear is a good thing when you can make a change – I can’t.” Dive deeper.
The Essentials
??? Hot One: The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln landed his first British TV gig in nearly 15 years with ITV thriller Cold Water.
??? More heat: Mubi took North American and multiple key territories for Miguel Gomes’ Cannes Best Director title Grand Tour.
??? Still hot: Apple TV+ set a Vietnam docuseries from the Emmy-winning team behind 9/11: One Day In America.
?? Breaking Baz: The BBC found its Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Richard Ratcliffe in Gangs of London star Narges Rashidi and Joseph Fiennes, per our roving International Ed-at-Large. Want some more Baz? Here’s a hot-off-the-press interview with Supacell creator Rapman.
??? ElectionLine: The biggest players in British TV news told me how they are preparing for the July 4 poll.
??? More ElectionLine: The world’s media reacted to the Biden vs Trump yawnfest.
?? Done deal: Kristen Stewart and her Nevermind Pictures team shook hands with Fremantle on a first look.
?? Another deal: Leaving Neverland seller Abacus Media Rights sold to Canada’s Sphere Media for $18.6M.
?? Copycats: Banijay lashed out at social media creatives making barely-concealed knock-off versions of some of TV’s biggest formats.
?? Setting up shop: Zentropa Documentary, helmed by award-winning filmmaker Nicole Horanyi.
?? New job: For Karolina Rozwód, who was named Polish Film Institute boss following the ousting of predecessor Rados?aw ?migulski.
?? Box office: Inside Out 2 hurtled past $800M globally.
?? Trailer: For Rivals, Disney+’s raunchy Jilly Cooper adaptation starring David Tennant.
Jesse Whittock contributed to this week’s Insider
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