New Constantin boss Oliver Berben is looking for partners for brand building

Oliver Berben, who took charge of German production and distribution giant Constantin Film on March 1, is confronted with a German media landscape that is “radically and rapidly changing,” he says. In response, he adjusted the company’s approach.

He welcomes the government’s proposed reform of Germany’s film law, which will change the country’s production incentives, including for television, and introduce an obligation for broadcasters and streamers to reinvest 20% of sales generated in Germany into European productions , and 70% of the turnover. which should be in German language.

“You have stagnant financing of public broadcasters. You have declining income for private channels. The question is: does the model work at all? That’s not the case if we just keep doing the same thing over and over again.”

He adds, “Everything is changing, and these changes are good, by the way. We as producers have to find completely new ways to produce and finance a show.”

Streaming is of course somewhat part of the equation. Constantin’s thriller ‘Dear Child’, based on the novel by Romy Hausmann, has been viewed 51 million times on Netflix and is one of the streamer’s top 10 non-English scripted programs worldwide.

Constantin retained some rights to ‘Dear Child’, including the rights to the book’s theatrical adaptation. “We really look at every entity and every IP address and work with our partners to find the best way to find the perfect deal,” says Berben.

One of the upcoming productions for Netflix is ​​the comedy crime series ‘Murder Mindfully’, starring Tom Schilling, based on the hit novel by Karsten Dusse, one of the most successful IPs to emerge from Germany in the last five years, according to Berben. . “This is a perfect example of creating an IP brand together with Netflix,” he says.

With talent like Schilling in mind, Berben notes, “We don’t make exclusive deals with actors. It’s different for filmmakers and writers. Talent deals include Baran bo Odar, Bully Herbig, Florian David Fitz and David Wnendt. So we invest heavily when it comes to filmmakers and creators, and work with them.”

One of Constantin’s upcoming shows is ‘Smilla’s Sense of Snow’, based on the novel by Peter Høeg, with direction by Amma Asante. As with the other series, the approach is: “Let’s try to find the perfect partners in each territory and keep a lot of the rights for ourselves.”

“The idea here, from a financial point of view, was to find two to three anchor partners where we have a safety net of 60%, 70% of the budget, and then finance the rest ourselves and keep the rest of the rights. for us until the show is done, and then sell it here,” he says.

Viaplay has Scandinavian rights and ARD Degeto and Netflix are the partners in Germany. ITV Studios handles distribution elsewhere.

Another big show for Constantin is the fantasy drama ‘Hagen’, a reinterpretation of the medieval folk saga ‘Nibelungen’. With a budget of approximately 45 million euros, it is the largest budgeted German production ever. It has been produced both as a six-part series and as a feature film for theatrical release. Fremantle handles the worldwide distribution rights. RTL owns German streaming and free TV rights.

“The idea is primarily to create a new world and a new IP. And secondly, when you do a genre like this, the stakes and expectations are very high, so you need a high budget,” says Berben.

Another big budget show Constantin is attached to is Roland Emmerich’s $150 million gladiator drama ‘Those About to Die’, which is being streamed by Prime Video in several European territories, and by Peacock in the US, with AGC handling international rights.

Prime Video reports that the show “broke all the marks in every area in Europe,” says Berben, and they are now discussing a second season. “It’s a huge, incredible success for them, which is also our success, and especially because we took this big risk to create a show like this with a high budget.”

In addition to the long range of series, Constantin continues to strengthen its range of feature films. In terms of theatrical distribution, this includes acquisitions like “Baby Girl,” “The Last Showgirl” and “Megalopolis.” In terms of production, the main titles are ‘Regretting You’, based on the bestselling novel by Colleen Hoover, and ‘September 5’, a possible Oscar candidate.